Zach Maurer

Zach Maurer
President & CEO, Prairie Lithium

Lithium Brine In Saskatchewan

Prairie Lithium is a lithium resource company developing its brine property in Saskatchewan, Canada. The company currently holds approximately 360,000 acres of crown mineral permits in southeast Saskatchewan. Prairie Lithium is targeting the Duperow Formation within the sedimentary Williston Basin where the company has acquired and drilled wells to test and measure lithium concentration from brine. In 2022, the company completed a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) which highlights over 4mm MT Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (LCE) inferred resource on its property.

In order to develop its brine resource, the company must utilize direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology. Prairie Lithium is developing its own DLE technology while also performing extensive research on external DLE technologies to ensure it deploys the most cost effective technology for its resource. DLE technology can produce intermediate lithium chemicals such as lithium chloride and lithium sulphate in a matter of hours, whereas traditional evaporative brine mines can take up to 24 months to process lithium to the same intermediate product. With the demand increase for lithium from the electric vehicle market, the current lithium production cannot keep up to supply, therefore, new technologies must be developed and deployed to unlock unconventional lithium resources such as Prairie Lithium’s project in southeast Saskatchewan.

 

 

Zach grew up farming in southeast Saskatchewan near Prairie Lithium’s core project area. He entered the energy sector in 2009 and worked his way from a roughneck into consulting roles. During his consulting career, he managed environmental and hydrogeologic projects in Canada and the United States. In 2019, he incorporated Prairie Lithium. He has since lead multiple rounds of private equity funding and established Prairie Lithium as the first and largest active lithium brine developer in their project region. He holds a B.Sc. in Geology from the University of Regina and is currently conducting M.Sc. research on lithium hydrochemistry in the Williston Basin. He also holds a Diploma in Exploration Information Technology from the South Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT).