USGS: Unlocking Arkansas’ Hidden Treasure

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The U.S. Geological survey has confirmed a vast deposit of lithium in what has become known as the Smackover Formation in southern Arkansas. As Little Rock Public Radio reports, studies have shown lithium mining can be harmful to the environment because the process uses a large amount of water. The process also leads to pollution that can affect the regional ecosystem. In an interview with Arkansas PBS on Friday, October 25, Hugh McDonald, Secretary of Commerce, says working with an industry that has a negative impact on the environment is not new. “We’ve had oil and gas business for a hundred years down there. The communities and the state is well-versed and organized and supports the industry. Doing it responsibly as well, from an environmental perspective, as well as, you know, common sense regulation to support the industry, as well.”

This map of the U.S. shows an inset area displaying highlighted areas for the Smackover Formation and sampling area. The Smackover formation (highlighted in yellow) covers the southern to eastern portion of Texas, southern portion of Arkansas, the upper half of Louisiana and some eastern areas, southern half of Mississippi, southwest area of Alabama, and portions of the Florida panhandle. The sampling area is located in the lower portion of Arkansas (highlighted with red stripes).

A 2022 report concluded the Smackover formation has “sufficient lithium to produce enough batteries for 50 million electric vehicles. The federal and state researchers who confirmed the enormous size of the lithium deposit announced last week [Monday, October 21] that the formation may hold five to 19 million tons of lithium. That is about nine times the annual worldwide demand for electric vehicles projected for 2030. Exxon Mobile announced in November 2023 that work had begun for the company’s first phase of North America lithium production in southwest Arkansas, with first production targeted for 2027. The Smackover is described by the USGS as “a relic of an ancient sea that left an extensive, porous, and permeable limestone formation that extends under parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida.” The formation got its name after the discovery of oil on April 14, 1922, which led to a large oil boom and the incorporation a year later of Smackover, a small city in northern Union County, Arkansas.

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