POSCO Holdings Inc. will launch a direct lithium extraction (DLE) pilot project in North America, marking the first such initiative by a South Korean company.

POSCO Holdings announced Monday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Australian resource development firm Anson Resources Ltd. to jointly build and operate a DLE demonstration plant.

Under the agreement, POSCO Holdings will validate the commercial viability of its proprietary DLE technology, which it has been developing since 2016, using lithium-rich brine assets located in Utah, the United States.

Anson Resources will provide the lithium resources and project site, while POSCO Holdings will lead the technology testing. Construction of the demonstration plant is scheduled to begin next year.

The two companies also plan to consider additional collaboration, including a potential strategic partnership, depending on the results of the pilot.

Conventional lithium extraction from salt lakes involves pumping brine into evaporation ponds, where sunlight is used to separate lithium over extended periods. This method requires long times and is limited to regions with high solar intensity. DLE technology, on the other hand, uses physical and chemical processes to extract lithium from low-concentration brine without large-scale ponds. It can increase lithium recovery rates to 70-90 percent up from the previous rate of about 50 percent, while also significantly shortening production time.

“Through this pilot project, we aim to accelerate lithium commercialization in untapped North American salt lake regions and expand our supply chain,” the company said. “The initiative is expected to serve as a strategic foothold for securing next-generation core technologies essential to our North American lithium operations.”

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