Saskatchewan is seeing the dawn of a new industry
The opening instalment of Pipeline Online's lithium series frames Saskatchewan's emerging lithium extraction industry as a transformative opportunity for the province's oil and gas sector amid the energy transition. Prairie Lithium drilled Canada's first targeted lithium well near Torquay in September 2021, with Grounded Lithium near Coleville and Hub City Lithium near Stoughton following, and Lithium Bank and Living Skies Lithium entering the market. Provincial geologist Gavin Jensen had championed the opportunity for over a decade.
The article captures both the promise and the uncertainty of the moment. Lithium prices had tripled from $7,000 to $21,000 per tonne, then tripled again to $65,000, yet no company had proven direct lithium extraction from brines at commercial scale. It also flags regulatory complexity around overlapping mineral rights for oil, gas, lithium, helium and geothermal resources — themes that would recur throughout the series, in which Prairie Lithium features prominently.