Mandrake Resources Limited has successfully completed swabbing operations at the Evelyn Chambers #1 well, extracting over 8,000 litres of lithium brine from the primary Mississippian Leadville Formation within the Utah Lithium Project.

The recovered bulk brine has now been delivered to US-based Direct Lithium Extraction provider Electroflow Technologies Inc. for comprehensive technical and commercial testing. Mandrake previously executed a supply agreement with Electroflow to provide bulk brine for pilot plant testing.

Electroflow operates a direct lithium extraction demonstration plant in Utah and is seeking to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate and lithium iron phosphate from the supplied material. The output of the technical appraisal will deliver vital purity, recovery and costing data. That operational data will directly form the basis of upcoming scoping studies for the project area.

While earlier updates reported the commencement of swabbing work at Evelyn Chambers #1, the current announcement confirms the successful completion of extraction and the physical delivery of the brine to the testing facility.

The well utilises existing perforations originally designed for depleted oil and gas production rather than targeted lithium recovery. Although a purpose-drilled lithium well would allow more selective extraction, re-entering existing wellbores provides a cost-effective method to secure bulk brine volumes for initial processing evaluations.

The majority of operational costs associated with the extraction program were covered by a US$1 million federal grant awarded by the US Department of Energy to the Paradox Basin Lithium Group. The group operates with federal and academic partners, including Idaho National Laboratories, the National Laboratory of the Rockies, the University of Utah and Mandrake.

Read the full announcement: Bulk Brine Production Complete at Utah Lithium Project