From Federal Support to FID: Bringing a U.S. Lithium Project to Life

Many lithium discussions focus on breakthrough technology or future market demand. Both matter, but neither guarantees that a project will ever be built. Between a successful pilot and an operating facility lies the giant, messy middle of project development: securing permits, negotiating bankable offtake, satisfying government and third-party financing requirements, completing detailed engineering, managing commodity-price exposure and developing a credible execution plan. This 30-minute moderated discussion will use Lilac Solutions’ Great Salt Lake lithium project to explore how a strategically important project pushes through those barriers and advances toward final investment decision, construction and commercial production.

Lilac will provide the project developer’s perspective, including what it meant to be “first through the wall” in pursuing a new permitting pathway in a highly regulated and environmentally sensitive location. Lilac will discuss the difficulty of securing a binding 10-year take-or-pay agreement covering all planned Phase 1 production during one of the weakest lithium markets in more than a decade, as well as the extensive technical, commercial and financial diligence required to attract third-party capital and secure selection for a $100 million Department of Energy award.

The discussion will also highlight the upside of navigating these challenges: validation of the project and technology, a clearer pathway for commercial deployment and lessons that can benefit future Lilac customers globally.

Hatch will provide their perspective in terms of Lilac's engineering and project-delivery perspective. Hatch will explain why a promising technology, a large resource and strong market projections are not sufficient to make a project financeable, particularly when new technology risk is layered on top of commodity-price risk. In this regard, the panel will explore how Hatch, as engineering, procurement and construction management partner, helps validate project assumptions, strengthen cost and schedule confidence, support financing diligence and translate completed development work into an executable plan for detailed engineering, early procurement, construction and commissioning. Brad

Harker will moderate the conversation, drawing out what the Great Salt Lake project development experience can teach other critical-minerals developers about pushing through the messy middle and getting a project to FID.

KEY DISCUSSION THEMES

• Moving direct lithium extraction from pilot validation to commercial scale

• Converting government support into an executable project

• Steps leading to the $100 million investment from the DoE

• Building the technical and commercial foundation for final investment decision

• Managing technology, scale-up, cost and schedule risk

• Using detailed engineering and early procurement to improve project certainty

• Aligning engineering, permitting, offtake and financing

• The partnership between a technology developer and its project-delivery team

• Lessons for critical-minerals developers seeking to move into construction