Work begins on future commercial site near Torquay
Arizona Lithium, now Prairie Lithium, began preparing a well pad lease approximately five kilometres southwest of Torquay, Saskatchewan in late October 2023, marking the first physical work on the future commercial site for the Prairie Lithium Project. The Perth-based company acquired Emerald Park-based Prairie Lithium in early 2023. Executive director Zach Maurer confirmed the pilot plant had arrived in Saskatchewan and was expected to be operational in November.
The company's third-party direct lithium extraction technology had completed two successful testing phases between the third quarter of 2022 and the second quarter of 2023, with the pilot plant deployed to generate data for commercial facility design. Plans called for drilling production and disposal wells in the first half of 2024, targeting initial commercial production in 2025, with a preliminary feasibility study due by the end of 2023.