Aramco forms Saudi lithium JV with Ma’aden

Saudi energy firm Aramco and mining and metals company Ma’aden have signed an agreement to form a joint venture in Saudi Arabia to potentially start lithium production by 2027.

The proposed JV aims to extract lithium from high-concentration deposits and advance direct lithium extraction (DLE) technologies to help meet growing demand domestically and globally. Lithium demand in Saudi Arabia alone is expected to grow twenty-fold between 2024 and 2030, supporting an estimated 500,000 EV batteries and 110 GW of renewables, Aramco stated.

As part of its operations, Aramco has identified several areas with a high lithium concentration of up to 400 parts per million.  

“The proposed JV will enable extraction of energy transition minerals,” said Nasir K. Al-Naimi, Aramco Upstream President. “We expect that this partnership will leverage the world’s leading upstream enterprise to apply significant low-cost advantages, industry experience, technological innovation, accumulated subsurface knowledge and an integrated supply chain ecosystem, with a view to meeting the Kingdom and potentially the world’s projected lithium demand.”

Source: Aramco