Smackover Lithium’s East Texas Franklin Study Models 70,000 Tonnes a Year — Production Is Still an Early-2030s Possibility

Smackover Lithium has put its first economic framework around the Franklin Project in northeast Texas. The Preliminary Economic Assessment released Sept. 8 contemplates up to 70,000 metric tonnes per year of battery-quality lithium carbonate capacity and about 64,600 tonnes per year of average modeled production over a 20-year modeled operating life.¹

Those numbers describe a study case, not current output or an approved construction program. Smackover Lithium says the PEA is preliminary, includes Inferred Mineral Resources and provides no certainty that the study will be realized. The PEA recommends a Preliminary Feasibility Study targeted for 2027 and says initial production could begin in the early 2030s.¹

Smackover Lithium is the 55:45 partnership between Standard Lithium and Equinor, with Standard Lithium serving as developer and operator.¹ Franklin is the partnership’s first defined project in East Texas.¹

The $4.992 billion NPV is a study output, not a price tag

The PEA’s lithium-only case estimates $3.496 billion of initial capital, $4,226 per tonne in average annual cash operating cost, a $4.992 billion unlevered after-tax NPV8 and a 24.0% after-tax IRR.¹ Those economics assume a flat $22,400-per-tonne lithium carbonate selling price and are presented as modeled project results rather than achieved performance.¹

That distinction matters because the $4.992 billion figure is an output of the PEA’s assumptions, not an established market value for Franklin. The same company release explicitly says the assessment is preliminary and that there is no certainty it will be realized.¹

Franklin’s resource is larger, and part of it is now Indicated

The updated resource reports 1.771 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent in the Indicated category plus 2.128 million tonnes LCE in the Inferred category.¹ In September 2025, Smackover Lithium’s maiden Franklin estimate reported 2.159 million tonnes LCE, all Inferred.²

So the latest study does two different things at once: it increases the reported lithium resource and moves a portion into the higher-confidence Indicated category.¹² It does not turn those Mineral Resources into Mineral Reserves; the PEA itself warns that its Inferred material is too speculative to be categorized as reserves.¹

The physical footprint has expanded as well. Franklin’s stated project area increased from roughly 80,199 acres in the 2025 maiden estimate to 110,064 acres in the new study, while gross leased mineral area increased from 46,287 acres to 76,588 acres.¹²

A large modeled project still has a long development path

Permitting and environmental work remains unfinished. The Sept. 8 release says required permits and baseline information are still part of the development work. It says a federal NEPA nexus is not anticipated because the project has no federal funding or federal land, while also saying a final determination cannot yet be made until baseline data and the project definition are further developed.¹

Franklin also should not be confused with Smackover Lithium’s separate South West Arkansas project. That Arkansas project has a 22,500-tonne-per-year initial nameplate capacity and an announced binding 8,000-tonne-per-year customer agreement with LG Energy Solution.³ Our Aug. 31 coverage deals with that separate project and its offtake progress. The Sept. 8 Franklin release does not identify a named customer or offtake for the East Texas project.¹³

Standard Lithium says an independent NI 43-101 Technical Report supporting the Franklin PEA will be filed on SEDAR+ within 45 days of the Sept. 8 disclosure.¹ After that, the next major technical milestone identified in the study is the PFS targeted for 2027 — still well before the company’s current early-2030s possible production window.¹

Sources

Footnotes

1. Smackover Lithium Announces Positive Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Franklin Project, Its First Lithium Project in East Texas — Standard Lithium / Smackover Lithium, Sept. 8, 2026. https://www.standardlithium.com/news/smackover-lithium-announces-positive-preliminary-economic-assessment-for-the-franklin-project-its-first-lithium-project-in-east-texas. Interested-party primary disclosure establishing the PEA, modeled capacity and economics, updated resource and project area, development/permitting status, PFS target, possible early-2030s production timing and intended technical-report filing. The economic, production and schedule figures are modeled or forward-looking rather than achieved results. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵

2. Smackover Lithium Releases Maiden Inferred Resource for its Franklin Project Comprising a Portion of Significant Brine Position in East Texas — Standard Lithium / Smackover Lithium, Sept. 24, 2025. https://www.standardlithium.com/news/press-releases/smackover-lithium-releases-maiden-inferred-resource-for-its-franklin-project-comprising-a-portion-of-significant-brine-position-in-east-texas. Historical primary source for the prior 2.159-million-tonne-LCE all-Inferred resource, approximately 80,199-acre project area and 46,287 gross leased acres; superseded by S001 for current Franklin figures. ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Smackover Lithium Signs Binding Customer Offtake with LG Energy Solution for the South West Arkansas Project — Standard Lithium / Smackover Lithium, Aug. 31, 2026. https://www.standardlithium.com/news/smackover-lithium-signs-binding-customer-offtake-with-lg-energy-solution-for-the-south-west-arkansas-project. Establishes that the LG Energy Solution agreement and 22,500-tpa initial nameplate capacity belong to the separate South West Arkansas project, not Franklin. ↩ ↩²