Exxon Mobil’s CEO has indicated that the oil and natural gas company is looking to join the electric vehicle craze by mining lithium, a key ingredient in electric vehicle batteries. While speaking to analysts about the company’s earnings recently, Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods said that the company is “actively exploring” the opportunity presented by lithium mining and likes what it has seen so far.
Several countries have pledged to steadily electrify their roads over the next few decades as part of global efforts to fight climate change. Newer companies such as Tesla quickly captured the electric vehicle market by being early entrants, but the industry is now filled with both new and established automakers competing to attract the small but growing pool of potential EV drivers.
The proliferation of electric cars will also be a major boon for companies that develop key raw materials, such as electric vehicle battery metals. With demand for electric cars predicted to explode in the coming years, lithium is expected to experience strong demand through the end of the decade to aid in the development of lithium-ion batteries for the electric vehicle and stationary energy storage sectors. Given that global lithium supplies are struggling to meet supply and will likely be in deficit until the end of the decade, mining and extraction companies such as Exxon Mobil could make a killing by joining lithium mining.
During his remarks, Woods noted that lithium mining is essentially an extension of what the company is already doing, pointing to the Exxon’s extensive experience with extracting raw materials from the ground and refining the materials for further use down the supply chain. For instance, Wood explained that using the process of extracting lithium from brine water is “very consistent” with what Exxon Mobil does at its chemical plants and refineries.
He added that extracting and producing lithium from brine water also calls for an intimate understanding of reservoir management and requires both drilling and injections, things that are entirely in Exxon Mobil’s wheelhouse. Exxon already has the skill set, operating experience and capability to mine lithium, Woods said, and the company has been looking into the matter for “quite some time.”
However, the company is still in the early stages of evaluating the feasibility of going into lithium mining with the goal of providing an increasingly rare and important resource at “much lower costs” and with limited environmental impact. Woods concluded that it would be a win-win for both the environment and markets if Exxon could begin mining lithium using environmentally friendly practices and selling it more affordably.
If its plans materialize, Exxon will join a long list of lithium exploration and extraction companies such as Reflex Advanced Materials Corp. (CSE: RFLX) (OTCQB: RFLXF) that are seeking to meet the growing demand of this vital metal as the energy transition gathers steam.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Reflex Advanced Materials Corp. (CSE: RFLX) (OTCQB: RFLXF) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/RFLXF
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