BOWIE COUNTY, Texas — Austin-based lithium extraction company EnergyX will show its local demonstration plant to invited guests on March 26, and the public can watch an online livestream.
The event, titled GET-Lit at Lonestar, will be the “grand unveiling” of the plant at the TexAmericas Center industrial park, as well as its proprietary direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology, according to a news release.
The facility will be the largest DLE plant in the United States to date, initially producing 250 tons of lithium a year and then scaling up to 50,000 tons per year, according to the release.
In July 2025, EnergyX announced it had acquired lithium leases to a total of 50,000 acres of land. EnergyX and other lithium operations in the region will drill to acquire subterranean brine that contains lithium, then extract the lithium from the brine and process it into a usable solid form.
Lithium-containing brine is abundant under a regional geological feature called the Smackover Formation. In the past, the Smackover Formation has yielded oil and natural gas. It now is attracting industry eager to supply the world’s ever-growing demand for the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles and mobile electronic devices.
“EnergyX is now poised to deliver a scalable, sustainable lithium supply to major EV makers, battery cell manufacturers, and cathode makers from our production facilities in the Americas,” CEO Teague Egan said last summer.
The livestream is scheduled for 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, March 26, on EnergyX’s X feed and the YouTube channel Now You Know.
This map released by EnergyX on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, shows various lithium extraction companies’ land lease acquisitions in Southwest Arkansas and Northeast Texas. (Courtesy of EnergyX)