[SMM Analysis] Mandrake Starts Brine Production at Utah's Evelyn Chambers

Australian lithium developer Mandrake Resources has commenced swabbing activities at its Evelyn Chambers #1 well in Utah's Paradox Basin, targeting bulk brine production from the Mississippian Leadville Formation reservoir.

Brine is being extracted from existing perforations within the Leadville Formation originally installed for oil and gas production, now depleted, and not optimised for the modelled high-grade lithium zones within the formation. Mandrake estimates a purpose-drilled lithium brine well, offering more selective zone targeting, would cost approximately $4-million. Production testing will include flow and pressure testing, staged chemical analysis of brine over defined pumping periods, and reservoir deliverability assessment, with results feeding directly into commercial modelling and scoping studies. The work is partly funded by a $1-million federal grant awarded by the US Department of Energy to the Paradox Basin Lithium Group.

Bulk brine will be transferred into storage totes for initial supply to Electroflow Technologies and several other direct lithium extraction (DLE) providers. Electroflow's DLE demonstration plant is set to receive 10,000 litres of lithium brine, which will undergo technical and commercial appraisal covering purity, recovery, and processing cost data. Electroflow's stated end-use targets are battery-grade lithium carbonate and lithium iron phosphate.

Mandrake noted that improved sentiment in the global lithium market has renewed investor and corporate interest in the sector, with several opportunities currently under assessment for the Utah project's development.

SMM Outlook: The 10,000-litre initial supply volume to Electroflow is a modest first tranche relative to what a purpose-drilled well could ultimately deliver, but it's sufficient to generate the purity/recovery benchmarks needed before capital is committed to the $4-million dedicated well option. Reservoir deliverability data from the current swabbing campaign rather than the DLE appraisal itself will likely be the binding constraint on how quickly Mandrake can scale supply to multiple DLE partners.