Good times in Magnolia
The headline was a big one in the May 24 edition of The Wall Street Journal: “China’s Risky Strategy to Control One-Third of the World’s Lithium Supply.”
“Chinese companies have long dominated lithium refining, but their hunt to secure a greater share of the world’s supplies of the metal is leading them to buy up stakes in mines throughout the developing world as they face resistance in Western countries,” Sha Hua and Alexandra Wexler wrote. “China is spending billions on stakes in nations that have histories of political instability, local resistance and resource nationalism. …
“If China succeeds, however, it could secure access to one-third of the world’s lithium-mine production capacity needed by 2025, according to industry estimates. Lithium, a soft, silvery metal, is a component in the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles and smartphones.”
According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, lithium demand could outstrip supply by 300,000 metric tons by the end of the decade. Increasing domestic lithium supplies is now considered a national security issue in this country. In last Saturday’s column, I wrote about
Exxon Mobil’s move into south Arkansas as the search for lithium intensifies.
There are those who believe efforts to extract lithium from brine could be the 21st century equivalent of the 1920s oil boom in south Arkansas. Add to that the economic surge being created by rapid growth at the defense industries with operations near Camden. Those facilities now employ almost 3,000 people, with hundreds more soon to be hired.
No wonder Trey Berry, the visionary president of Southern Arkansas University at Magnolia, is in a good mood as we tour the campus in his pickup. In the recently completed school year, attendance topped 5,000 for the first time. In an era when many other institutions of higher learning across the state are losing enrollment, SAU is up 14 percent during the past five years.
As we look at new clubhouses for the school’s tennis and golf programs, Berry lists additional things that are happening at the university—a new doctoral program in educational leadership will have more than 60 students in the fall; more than 750 students graduated in ceremonies May 5-6; SAU placed student teachers in 34 school districts last year.
If the economy in this area grows as much as some believe it will due to the lithium and defense industries, there will be a need for more college-educated workers. Berry has positioned the school well. SAU’s relatively new engineering program now has 180 students and partnerships with area companies such as Albemarle Corp. SAU has the only marine biology major in Arkansas and one of only two poultry science degrees (the other is at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville).
Following our tour, we head to lunch at MuleKick, a hip eatery adjacent to campus. We meet Steve Card and Brian Kirtley of Albemarle, which last fall announced a massive $540 million investment in the area economy. That investment in two existing bromine plants will create at least 100 jobs.
The company plans to spend $380 million on one plant and $160 million on the other. It’s the largest economic development project in Columbia County history. Almost 250 construction workers are involved in the expansion efforts.
Albemarle also will be drilling more brine supply wells. This huge investment doesn’t even take into consideration Albemarle’s expected move into the lithium-extraction business.
According to the Magnolia Reporter: “The bromine expansion is separate from another prospective Albemarle expansion in Columbia County. Company officials said during their quarterly earnings call with the investment community that Albemarle is moving toward a lithium-extraction project in Magnolia.
“Albemarle and its predecessors, Ethyl Corp. and Dow Chemical, have pumped saltwater brine from formations about two miles beneath Columbia and Union counties since the late 1960s. Bromine is refined by the plants. Albemarle uses the bromine or sells it to other companies to make an array of chemical products ranging from pharmaceuticals and fire retardants to foam and insecticides.”
Albemarle is already in the lithium business in other parts of the world, says Card, who handles external affairs. For example, it operates a large plant in Chile.
“Everybody is trying to find a cost-competitive way to get that lithium in this country,” Card says. “It’s going to mean continued growth for us. We already have about 300 miles of pipe in this area. There will be a strong market for engineers, and that’s where SAU comes in. They can provide us those engineers in the years ahead.”
Kirtley, the local plant manager, says the company already employs 600 people in Magnolia and expects steady growth. A different era may well be dawning in the south half of Arkansas, where most counties have been losing population for decades.