Smackover Lithium Signs an 8,000-Tonne-a-Year Deal With LG Energy Solution — It Says Roughly 90% of Its Offtake Target Is Now Committed

Smackover Lithium says it has signed a binding take-or-pay agreement to supply LG Energy Solution with 8,000 metric tonnes per year of battery-quality lithium carbonate from its proposed South West Arkansas project for 10 years after commercial production begins.¹² LG Energy Solution separately confirmed the binding agreement, the 8,000-tonne annual volume and the 10-year term.³

It is the project's second publicly disclosed binding customer offtake.¹² Smackover Lithium signed a separate take-or-pay deal with Trafigura in March for another 8,000 tonnes per year over 10 years, also beginning when commercial production starts.⁴

Together, the two announced contracts represent 16,000 tonnes per year of future supply.¹⁴ Smackover Lithium says it is seeking customer agreements for roughly 80% of the project's 22,500-tonne-per-year initial nameplate capacity, and says the LG Energy Solution and Trafigura deals now commit roughly 90% of that targeted offtake volume.¹²

The denominator matters. Eighty percent of 22,500 tonnes is about 18,000 tonnes per year, so 16,000 tonnes is about 89% of that contracting target by simple arithmetic. The same 16,000 tonnes is only about 71% of the project's total 22,500-tonne nameplate capacity.¹²⁴ In other words, Smackover Lithium is not saying 90% of the project's total output is already contracted.

The customer gap is shrinking. FID has not happened yet.

The new agreement removes a large part of one commercial workstream the developer has explicitly tied to project financing and final investment decision work. Smackover Lithium said in May that customer offtakes and project financing were the two primary remaining deliverables before FID, and that a full notice to proceed on its central processing facility would follow a positive FID.⁵

But the Aug. 31 agreement is not itself a financing close, FID or production-start announcement. Standard Lithium's SEC-furnished disclosure says the partnership is targeting FID in 2026 and first commercial production in 2029, and explicitly treats project timing, financing and future supply capability as forward-looking.²

The developer also says pricing and other key commercial terms of the LG Energy Solution agreement are confidential.¹² That means the public agreement establishes volume, duration and take-or-pay structure, but not a disclosed definitive contract price.

Smackover Lithium says it remains in discussions with prospective customers and expects one additional smaller agreement as it finishes the offtake process.¹ Whether that last agreement arrives matters less to project execution than what follows: financing, a positive FID, a full notice to proceed and eventually commercial production all remain future milestones.

LG Energy Solution confirms the supply deal, but not an EV-only destination

LG Energy Solution framed the Arkansas supply as part of a U.S. battery-material chain and, in the same announcement, highlighted rising North American demand for energy-storage-system LFP batteries.³ The company also said its products serve both energy-storage and EV markets.³

What it did not disclose is how this specific 8,000-tonne annual stream will be split between stationary-storage and EV batteries, or whether it is tied to a particular automaker, model or U.S. battery plant.³ The EV relevance is therefore the domestic battery-material supply chain and LG Energy Solution's broader EV business — not a verified claim that all of this Arkansas lithium is earmarked for electric vehicles.

For the South West Arkansas project, the useful change is narrower and more concrete: two binding 8,000-tonne-per-year customer agreements are now public, and the developer says that gets it to roughly 90% of the customer volume it is trying to contract before completing the offtake process.¹⁴ The harder project milestones still sit ahead.

Sources

Footnotes

1. 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 the binding take-or-pay structure, 8,000-tpa volume, 10-year term, confidential commercial terms, 22,500-tpa nameplate capacity, roughly-80% offtake target and the developer's roughly-90%-of-targeted-offtake characterization. Future financing, FID and production remain company targets. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

2. Exhibit 99.1 — Smackover Lithium Signs Binding Customer Offtake with LG Energy Solution for the South West Arkansas Project — Standard Lithium / U.S. SEC EDGAR, Aug. 31, 2026. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1537137/000117184326005794/exh_991.htm. SEC-furnished issuer disclosure confirming the announced agreement terms and identifying project development timing, financing and future supply capability as forward-looking. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

3. LG Energy Solution Secures Multi-Year Supply of U.S.-Produced Lithium Carbonate from Smackover Lithium — LG Energy Solution, Aug. 31, 2026. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lg-energy-solution-secures-multi-year-supply-of-us-produced-lithium-carbonate-from-smackover-lithium-302864535.html. Counterparty confirmation of the binding 8,000-tpa / 10-year agreement and LG Energy Solution's U.S.-supply-chain, ESS LFP and broader ESS/EV market framing; it does not establish an EV-only allocation for the contracted lithium. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

4. Smackover Lithium Signs First Binding Customer Offtake Agreement for the South West Arkansas Project — Standard Lithium / Smackover Lithium, March 9, 2026. https://www.standardlithium.com/news/smackover-lithium-signs-first-binding-customer-offtake-agreement-for-the-south-west-arkansas-project. Establishes the prior Trafigura binding take-or-pay agreement for 8,000 tpa over 10 years and the project's stated customer-offtake target. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

5. Smackover Lithium Announces the Award of Last Key Construction Contract for the South West Arkansas Project Ahead of Final Investment Decision — Standard Lithium / Smackover Lithium, May 26, 2026. https://www.standardlithium.com/news/smackover-lithium-announces-the-award-of-last-key-construction-contract-for-the-south-west-arkansas-project-ahead-of-final-investment-decision. Establishes the developer's description of its central-processing-facility contract, limited notice to proceed, full-notice dependency on a positive FID, and its stated remaining pre-FID customer-offtake and financing work. ↩