Company looking to harvest lithium from the Great Salt Lake
Sep 8, 2023, 7:45 PM | Updated: 8:58 pm
FILE: Great Salt Lake State Park and Marina, May 2022. By June, 2023, Utah State Parks officials were placing boats into the Great Salt Lake Marina. (Photo credit: Great Salt Lake State Park and Marina)
(Photo credit: Great Salt Lake State Park and Marina)
SALT LAKE CITY — A private company wants to harvest the Great Salt Lake for lithium but it says it will put all the water back.
Waterleaf Resources said that its technology will pump water from the lake, run it through its system and then return it to the lake within hours. The hope is to maintain the lake’s water levels.
According to Deputy Director for the Division of Forestry, Fire and State Land Ben Stireman, the water won’t be out of the lake for long.
“We’re talking a matter of hours running through the system and going back to the lake,” he said.
Along with this, the company plans on putting additional water into the lake. This will counteract any water that could possibly be lost in the process.
Stireman said the division will be closely monitoring this project.
“We would not allow lithium extraction at the expense of the Great Salt Lake,” he said.
Royalties from the mining will go toward conservation efforts of the lake.
Devin Oldroyd contributed to this story.
