Lithium summit planned for late October
Arkansas economic leaders are preparing for their second annual lithium summit to take place in Little Rock on Oct. 28-29, 2025.
By: Roby Brock
Talk Business & Politics
Arkansas economic leaders are preparing for their second annual lithium summit to take place in Little Rock on Oct. 28-29, 2025.
Secretary of Commerce Hugh McDonald, who appeared on this week’s edition of Talk Business & Politics, said this year’s summit will feature notable speakers, workshops and meetings with stakeholders, and other events to better network the burgeoning industry.
“We’re dealing with effectively building a brand new industry on top of the process industries that already exist in South Arkansas, but it’s building relationships,” said McDonald. “Having companies come here that don’t know anything about Arkansas, having them understand about the business environment, the pro-business environment in Arkansas, the governor’s going to be there as well. She’s fully engaged in this process.”
“So the outcome is helping really the nation build out the entire supply chain in the lithium supply chain of which the midstream and upstream portions of that supply chain is very much lacking in the United States. That’s where we can play a much significant role,” he added.
State leaders are banking that new technologies and South Arkansas’ bromine deposits will lead to a robust lithium industry eventually in the state. Arkansas has passed new laws to further incentivize the lithium industry, developed research and regulations, and created business incubators to attract more investment.
Lithium is used in a variety of products, notably in pacemakers, drones and batteries for cell phones and electric vehicles. China is the world’s largest producer of lithium. In Arkansas, new technology has experimented, successfully so far, in extracting lithium from bromine in a new manner. Instead of using evaporation to separate lithium from bromine, a chemical process has been developed to separate lithium molecules, which is at the center of hope for acceleration for Arkansas’ potential lithium industry in the Smackover Formation.
“We’ve gone from will this happen to, this is going to happen to, what do we need to do to get ready for this to happen?” said Sheryl Edwards, Southern Arkansas University associate vice president and head of LiTHIUMLEARNS, a workforce program for the industry. She appeared with McDonald on this week’s TB&P program.
“There are groups all over town and all over southwest Arkansas who are working on different initiatives to make sure that we are ready… We are looking at housing, we’re looking at infrastructure, we’re looking at the water supply, and this could not be happening without the investment that the state of Arkansas is making to bring this opportunity to southwest Arkansas,” she said.
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