ION Minerals: Sustainable Lithium Extraction for a Cleaner Future

Exploration and Production

Ion is and Exploration and Production (E&P) company focused on the leasing, proving, and development of brine-borne mineral resources in North America.

Industry Leader

Ion is a leading player in the sector, controlling ~280,000 gross mineral acres across three distinct plays in North America, amounting to millions of tonnes of potential recoverable resource in place.

Eco-Friendly Resource Development

Advancements in DLE, or “Direct Lithium Extraction,” technology reduce environmental impact of resource development by dramatically reducing footprint and water usage, while improving overall project economics and flexibility to serve rapidly growing domestic and global demand.

American Energy Security

Unlocking resources for the production of battery-grade lithium from sub-surface brines domestically in Canada and the United States bolsters North American energy supply chain security.

Leading the charge from brine to battery.

Ion Minerals is at the forefront of revolutionizing the Lithium supply chain in North America.

Our Mission is to identify, control, prove, and exploit brine-borne mineral resources, ensuring a cleaner future and American energy security.

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The importance of Domestic Brine-borne Mineral Resources

Lithium demand is skyrocketing

The Clean Energy Revolution is driving investment in non-traditional, green energy around the world and is, in turn, ramping up demand for the various critical minerals needed for these projects. The International Energy Agency (IEA), the UN Trade & Development (UNCTAD) projects that lithium demand alone could rise by more than 1,500% between now and 2050. Moreover, Statista is forecasting global demand for lithium in 2030 to surpass 2.4 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE), doubling the demand forecast for 2025. Leading this surge will be increases in battery use for electric vehicles (EVs) and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), with demand expected to reach 3.8 million tonnes of LCE by 2035. Lithium is a go-to material for advanced battery manufacturing in the EV space, as it allows for high energy density, and is the lightest metal, thus providing high power-to-weight ratio, maximizing range.

Existing supplies produced using harmful practices

Most of the world’s lithium is currently produced incorporating environmentally harmful practices such as hard rock mining or large-scale evaporation operations, often in sensitive ecosystems. These operations can pose a high risk to the people and animals that inhabit the regions they occupy. Ion’s direct brine extraction approach to resource development employs a significantly smaller footprint than traditional mines. We are able to avoid the use of the immense, hazardous evaporation ponds which are commonplace in the industry, and are able to prevent large-scale consumptive use of precious groundwater resources.

Building a Domestic Supply Chain

North America's green economy runs on lithium, which it does not yet control. Today, nearly 90% of raw lithium is produced by Australia, Chile, and China, and close to 100% of battery-grade refining is concentrated abroad, with China processing the vast majority. Reducing this dependence is one of the defining economic and energy security challenges of the decade and domestic production is the answer.

Technological advances have the potential to unlock large brine-borne resources across North America

Brine mining using Direct Lithium Extraction (known as DLE) is an emerging process for producing battery-grade Lithium from sub-surface brines. Many companies are investing in the development of DLE technology in hopes of providing their process to project developers, like Ion, who are looking to commercialize brine resources. DLE allows for a much smaller footprint (think 10s or 100s of acres versus 10s of thousands) than traditional projects, and is much more environmentally friendly. The latest advancements in DLE technology are expected to land many North American brine resources in the bottom quartile of the global Lithium production cost curve. It also allows for battery-grade product to be produced domestically, eliminating the reliance on China.

What We Do

Explore

Identify high quality Brine-borne mineral resources

Acquire

Lease and acquire mineral rights in targeted development areas

Evaluate

Prove brine-bourne mineral reserves are economically sound

Produce

Develop resources using environmentally-friendly cutting edge processes

Project Areas

Ion Minerals controls approximately 280,000 gross acres of lithium mineral rights across multiple North American plays, making it one of the largest players in the sector

1,000,000 acre area of Interest in the Smackover Formation
Proven high lithium concentrations via multiple new drills in the region
Ion currently controls ~50,000 gross acres with the AOI

500,000 acre Area of Interest in the Brown Dolomite Formation
Proven high lithium concentrations via multiple historic samples within the region
Ion currently controls ~65,000 gross acres within the AOI