en.Wedoany.com Reported - North America's largest commercial direct lithium extraction (DLE) unit has arrived at Prairie Lithium's project site in Saskatchewan, Canada, bringing the company closer to commercial production. The arrival of the unit significantly reduces project development risk, with the next phase of installation and commissioning set to commence, leveraging existing production and disposal wells, electrical infrastructure, and on-site power transformers.

Prairie Lithium's (ASX:PL9) DLE unit is approximately four times the scale of the commercial system deployed by Standard Lithium at its Arkansas project. Under the first phase development plan, all lithium produced is secured through a binding offtake agreement with Hydro Lithium.

PL9 Executive Chairman Paul Lloyd stated that the arrival of North America's largest commercial DLE unit marks another decisive milestone for the company as it progresses toward becoming one of the newest commercial lithium producers in North America. Over the past 18 months, they have consistently achieved every major milestone, de-risking the project through regulatory approvals, critical on-site infrastructure development, a binding 100% offtake agreement with Hydro Lithium, and now the delivery of the commercial DLE unit. The Prairie project is being developed as a scalable lithium brine operation, leveraging existing regional infrastructure, and currently holds an indicated resource of 4.6 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE). The first phase concept validation development plan aims to produce up to 150 tonnes per year of LCE material over a decade, with PL9 set to collaborate with Hydro Lithium on potential expansion to support production of up to 10,000 tonnes per year of LCE.