National lab partnership helps launch U.S. lithium supply chain
CMI research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory supported the initial development of work that now is licensed to a company that has launched the first domestic lithium mining project in 50 years.
With support from the Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories, including Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Texas-based company Element3 has launched the first domestic lithium mining project in 50 years. This achievement is likely to have a big impact, turning the United States from a net importer of lithium to a country well on the path to greater energy independence, national security and economic strength.
The milestone, in February 2026, came less than a year after DOE launched the Minerals to Materials Supply Chain Research Facility, or METALLIC, in April 2025. The facility builds on DOE demonstration testbeds to speed technologies that strengthen the nation’s supply chain of minerals critical to the technology, transportation and defense industries. It provides experts and tools to de-risk development of these critical minerals technologies.
Element3 has now deployed its first commercial lithium extraction plant in the Permian Basin using ORNL technology. This completes the scaling of the technology from the laboratory to a commercial operation. It marks the first new lithium mining project to market in the United States since the late 1960s.
Element3’s lithium carbonate facility can produce 3,000 tons of lithium per year — nearly half of the current U.S. production. Lithium is used in some vehicle batteries and smartphones and could help provide grid-scale energy storage.
The Critical Materials Innovation Hub and Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office, which are part of an Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation effort, supported the initial development of ORNL work.
Link to the story: National lab partnership helps launch U.S. lithium supply chain
