Turning
Waste into Sustainability
Forget everything you know about lithium mining - one of the world’s most sustainable lithium sources comes from wastewater, not new mines.
Explore our impact
Fueling Greener Lives
In our bustling cities and serene countryside, a quiet revolution is reshaping our world for the better. At Lithium Harvest, we drive this transformation with one powerful idea: "Fueling Greener Lives."
Imagine a day when engines hum without exhaust, whispering the promise of a cleaner tomorrow. Electric vehicles glide silently through our streets, powered by lithium batteries made from what was once waste. This isn't a distant dream but a reality we're building every day.
Our journey begins deep underground, where we turn waste into a critical resource for the energy transition. Every drop of processed water gets us closer to a sustainable future.
But our journey extends far beyond. It reaches into the lives we touch. Envision families basking in the comfort of clean, reliable energy from advanced lithium batteries, feeling secure even during peak times - imagine entrepreneurs who can foster innovative, sustainable businesses thanks to our solutions. Picture communities where air quality improves as more electric vehicles hit the roads, reducing pollution for those who need it most.
"Fueling Greener Lives" is more than a tagline - it's our passion. It's about making sustainability a part of everyday life. Every battery we help produce, every vehicle we power, and every home we light up is part of this beautiful story. We're not just fueling energy - we're fueling aspirations, dreams, and a greener future for all.
Let's embrace sustainable lithium extraction and make a lasting difference - one lithium-ion at a time.
The Fastest Decarbonization Pathways Depend on Lithium
The case for lower-impact lithium starts with a simple reality: the fastest scalable decarbonization pathways depend on electrification.
Electrification depends on batteries. And batteries depend on lithium.
What the data show |
Why it matters |
|
|---|---|---|
| Emissions keep rising | Global GHG emissions reached a new record of 53.2 Gt CO₂e in 2024, up 1.3% year-on-year. Fossil CO₂ still made up 74.5% of total GHG emissions. | The world needs faster emissions reduction - without shifting the environmental burden upstream into critical mineral supply chains. |
| Power and transport are major drivers | Power generation remains the single-largest source of global GHG emis-sions, at about 29%. Transport is the No. 2 sector, at about 16%. | Decarbonizing power and transport unlocks some of the largest emissions-reduction opportunities in the global economy. |
| Fossil CO₂ dominates the problem | Combustion of coal, oil, and gas ac-counts for roughly three-quarters of total GHG emissions. | Reducing fossil demand in power and mobility creates outsized climate leverage. |
| The fastest scalable cuts need batter-ies | Electrify transport - EVs, etc., already avoid 2.6 Gt CO₂ by 2035. Expand re-newables; Solar, wind & storage supplied almost 75% of the growth in global power generation in 2024. | EVs and grid-scale storage both depend on massive, timely volumes of battery-grade lithium. Cleaner batteries start with cleaner lithium. |
| Lithium Harvest creates a multiplier effect | Lithium Harvest's low-carbon lithium extraction can reduce up to 57% of battery lifecycle emissions vs. traditional mining. Fast-to-market sustainable lithium short-circuits supply bottlenecks, enabling EV and storage capacity to decarbonize sooner. | Lower-impact lithium helps every downstream EV battery, grid-storage pack, and renewable power system reduce its embedded footprint from the start. |
What the data show
Why it matters
That’s why sustainable lithium extraction matters.
Lithium isn’t the whole solution.
But the fastest decarbonization pathways need batteries - and batteries need lithium produced with less land, less freshwater, lower emissions, and shorter routes to market.
Why Are We Mining or Brining Lithium?
The energy transition runs on critical minerals. And when it comes to electrification, lithium is non-negotiable.
Lithium enables electrification
To replace combustion with electrons, the world needs batteries at scale - for EVs, grid storage, renewable power, and resilient energy systems.
That means the world needs more lithium.
But supply can’t be judged by volume alone. It also has to be judged by speed, footprint, location, and resilience.
Energy security now equals mineral security
The IEA’s energy security logic has shifted from fuels to minerals. Access to battery-grade lithium now underpins industrial strategy, supply-chain resilience, and decarbonization.
The problem with today’s supply
Traditional lithium production helped build the battery industry.
But many legacy supply routes are not built for the transition now underway.
- Too slow - decade-long mine development can’t match battery demand.
- Too concentrated - long supply chains amplify geopolitical and delivery risk.
- Too heavy - high CO₂ emissions, high freshwater use, and large land footprints increase battery supply-chain impact.
If batteries are the engine of the transition, the lithium inside them must be sourced differently.
Lithium That Doesn’t Cost the Earth
At Lithium Harvest, sustainability isn’t an add-on. It’s built into the process.
Today, about 89% of lithium still comes from traditional mining methods - often remote, billion-dollar projects shipped halfway around the planet for refining.
That’s the opposite of what electrification needs.
Lithium Harvest takes a different path.
We recover lithium from produced water and geothermal brines already flowing through existing energy infrastructure. Instead of developing new pits, evaporation ponds, or remote mining operations, we turn brines already in motion into battery-grade lithium.
That creates a lower-impact pathway to critical mineral supply - with a smaller physical footprint, lower freshwater demand, shorter development timelines, and stronger regional supply potential.
Three simple principles guide our approach
- Use what already exists - work with existing wells, pads, pipelines, power, and water infrastructure.
- Design for low impact - reduce CO₂ intensity, freshwater use, and land footprint from day one.
- Create shared value - turn managed water streams into new revenue while supplying cleaner lithium to the battery value chain.
But Why Wastewater From the Energy Industry?
Because this is the perfect marriage between oil and gas and renewables.
The energy debate is too often framed as oil and gas vs renewables.
That doesn’t fit the moment anymore.
Energy demand is rising. Climate goals are urgent. Electrification needs lithium now - not only on decade-long mine timelines. And as electrification scales, securing critical minerals matters as much as adding new clean energy.
This isn’t about replacement. It’s an add-on.
Oil and gas won’t vanish overnight, and wastewater already flows at scale through installed infrastructure. By recovering lithium at the surface from those streams, legacy assets can help support the clean-tech build-out while lowering the cost, footprint, and complexity of critical mineral supply.
That’s how the old energy system connects to the new one.
We need unconventional lithium sources
Decade-long mines won’t meet near-term demand alone.
Produced water and geothermal brines can accelerate supply with lower impact, shorter development timelines, and closer-to-demand delivery - helping the transition move faster.
How does this compare to traditional mining on sustainability metrics?
Same Lithium. Smaller Footprint.
The side-by-side comparison of traditional lithium mining vs Lithium Harvest.
Traditional Mining |
Lithium Harvest Solution |
Why It’s Different |
Sustainability Advantage |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lithium feedstock | Continental brine/spodumene | Produced water/geothermal brines | We extract what already flows through existing pads and pipelines - no new pits, no ponds | Zero new scars. Turn liability into lithium, skip blasting and mega ponds, and add a new, sustainable source for the transition |
| Project implementation time | 5-17 years | 12-18 months | Surface-based, modular, co-located on existing infrastructure and tie-ins | Ship lithium this cycle. Up to 17× faster than greenfield mines - why wait to decarbonize? |
| Lithium carbonate production time | 2 hours - 6 months | 2 hours | No evaporation. No round-the-world refining | Hours instead of months - extract and refine on site, cutting emissions, cost, and time |
| Lithium yield | 20-95% | >95% | Optimized process tuned to complex brines | More lithium from the same resource = less waste per ton. Haven’t we wasted enough? |
| Land footprint (per t LCE) | 172-39,352 ft² | 61 ft² | No large ponds or pits - just modular, compact lithium extraction | Up to 99% smaller. Roughly 243 parking spaces saved per ton - keep land for people, not pits |
| Freshwater use (per t LCE) | 26,417-118,877 gal | 22,729 gal | High internal recycling; With up to 90% water recycling plant-wide | Up to 81% lower - about 1.5 million cups of coffee saved per ton |
| CO₂ footprint (per t LCE) | 2.5-20.4 t CO₂e | Net-zero operations (if possible) | We remove the big emitters: no blasting, calcination, and trucking - just low-pressure, clean energy, etc. | Cut up to 20.4 t CO₂e per ton. That’s 4.4 cars off the road for a year - per ton |
| CapEx intensity (per t LCE) | $34,000 - $62,500 | $17,100/t | Leverages existing infrastructure; modular | Spend less, start sooner. Up to 73% lower to add a sustainable supply. So, add more! |
| OpEx (per t LCE) | $6,000 - $7,000 | $3,647/t | Automated, low-pressure operations, short logistics, fixed feedstock price | Cheaper to run. 48% lower operating cost - sustainability that improves the P&L |
| Supply resilience | Concentrated geographies; long chains | Distributed, domestic/nearby fluids | Diversified sources near cathode/cell plants | Shorter, safer supply. Fewer chokepoints, lower logistics emissions, faster response to demand |
Traditional Mining
Lithium Harvest Solution
Why It’s Different
Sustainability Advantage
What This Means in the Real World
EV breakeven and savings vs ICE with Lithium Harvest vs traditional mining.
Same EV, cleaner inputs. You break even sooner, and the lifetime footprint drops further.
For the full methodology and scenarios, see our article: EV Greenhouse Gas Emission Breakeven Point.
ICE |
EV (Traditional Mining) |
EV (Lithium Harvest) |
Impact |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery CO₂ | - | 4.7 tonne | 2.0 tonne | -57% |
| Lifetime CO₂ | 54.3 tonne | 16.9 tonne | 14.2 tonne | -16% (-74% vs ICE) |
| GHG breakeven vs ICE | - | 11,335 mi/18,243 km | 1,982 mi/3,190 km | 5.7× sooner - 83% fewer km |
| Water saved per car | - | - | 17.6 m³ | 70,000 cups of coffee or 120 bathtubs |
| Land saved per car | - | - | 141 m² | 11-12 parking spaces or ½ a tennis court |
ICE
EV (Traditional Mining)
EV (Lithium Harvest)
Impact
From One Ton to Market Demand
Scaling per-ton savings to real-world volumes.
We’ve shown the per-ton difference. Here’s what it looks like when you scale those savings to the systems that actually move the world.
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One plant, one year - 15,000 t LCE - how does it add up?
One plant, one year. Picture a single modular plant running at 15,000 t LCE/year. Over a year, that’s 306,000 t CO₂e kept out of the air, 1,442,220,000 gallons of water saved, and 589,365,000 ft² of land impact avoided. In plain terms: about 2,180 Olympic pools of water and 10,200 football fields of land preserved, plus the CO₂ of 66,000 passenger-car years taken off the road. One site, one year - real-world scale.
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A 50,000-vehicle fleet you can picture
A fleet you can picture. Now imagine 50,000 EVs rolling off the line with lithium from Lithium Harvest instead of a traditional supply. Behind those batteries, you cut 135,000 t CO₂e - about 29,500 passenger-car years of emissions. You also save around 232,500,000 gallons of water - 3.7 billion cups of coffee - and avoid about 7.05 km² of land impact (that’s 1,000 soccer pitches or 575,000 parking spaces). Same cars. Same performance. Cleaner inputs that move the needle faster.
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And remember - we’re talking millions of tonnes of LCE
And remember. We may need more than 3,300,000 t of LCE in 2030 and more than 6,000,000 t in 2040. Even if every announced project gets built, only about 80% of the 2030 demand is covered. The gap won’t wait. That’s why the answer isn’t just more lithium. It’s faster, local, lower-impact lithium that uses what already flows.
We won’t supply all the world’s lithium. But we can move the needle with every modular train we bring online.
Projects That Make a Difference
Real sites. Real lithium. Real impact.
We have committed ourselves to the energy transition and are here to produce critical metals for energy storage more sustainably and efficiently.
Sustainability That Improves the P&L
We’re creating a win-win - sustainability that improves the P&L.
Sustainability isn’t a cost center. We produce cleaner lithium that’s faster to build, cheaper to run, and easier to buy. It’s proof that you can make one of the world’s most sustainable lithium sources - and build a strong business doing it.
Proof that green = commercial - let’s do more of it!
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Sustainable lithium that’s affordable
- CapEx intensity: $17,100/t LCE vs traditional mining at $34,000 - $62,500/t - up to 73% lower upfront so that we can build more capacity, cheaper.
- OpEx: $3,647/t - about 48% lower operating cost, cheaper to run by design.
Why it matters commercially: More projects pencil in more markets, earlier payback, durable margins through cycles, and headroom to compete at market-clearing price bands.
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Closer to demand
A future traditional route could be: mine in Australia → refine in China → ship to North America/EU.
Our route: Extract and refine on-site, co-located near cathode and cell hubs in North America and Europe.
Why it matters commercially: Lower freight cost and emissions, higher delivery reliability, stronger battery-passport fit.
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Faster build timeline
12-18 months from FID to operations - surface-based, modular, and co-located with existing infrastructure.
Impact: Earlier cash flow, phased scaling as demand grows, and faster delivery of sustainable supply into the energy transition. Why wait for traditional mining when you can accelerate the energy transition?
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A win-win for partners
- Oil & midstream: turn a produced-water cost center into a revenue stream.
- Geothermal: unlock dual revenue (power + lithium) from the same asset.
- Battery & cathode makers: secure cleaner, local inputs with improved Scope 3 and battery passport alignment.
Why it matters commercially: New profit lines for operators and tighter, regional offtake for OEMs.
Learn More About Sustainable Lithium Mining
Let’s Talk Lithium
Sustainable lithium that moves the transition forward.
