ION Minerals has made significant expansions across its diverse lithium resource portfolio in the United States and Canada.
The expanded footprint was achieved through disciplined acquisitions, targeted leasing and focused geological evaluation, the Houston-based company said in a press release in late March.
ION now controls just over 280,000 acres across three project areas, positioning itself as a major developer of lithium resources critical to the North American battery supply chain.
East Texas – Smackover Formation
Smackover is an underground geological formation that extends from Florida to Texas and is filled with a lithium-rich brine.
Analysts estimate that Smackover could contain more than 4 million metric tons of lithium, enough to power millions of electric cars and other electronic devices.
ION controls approximately 50,000 acres located between Tetra Technologies’ Evergreen brine units and Standard Lithium’s Reynolds brine units in southwest Arkansas, and Standard’s Franklin project in east Texas, where reported resource densities are between 47-60 tons of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) per acre.
This space establishes a commercial position within one of the most advanced saltwater development corridors in North America, benefiting from strong regional resource validation, an established history of saltwater production and growing commercial momentum in adjacent projects, ION said.
Texas Panhandle
In the prospective Texas Panhandle region, ION also controls approximately 65,000 acres, where internal analysis of public and private data estimates up to 2.4 million tons of LCE is present.
The company said the site is within an area of interest of approximately 500,000 acres and provides a pathway for large-scale commercial development potential.
Saskatchewan – Dobero Formation
ION recently acquired just over 165,000 acres in southeastern Saskatchewan, creating a significant position in the rapidly emerging brine lithium play targeting the Duperow Formation.
Based on preliminary geological data and independent analogue assessments, the Saskatchewan acreage is estimated to have up to 2.5 million tons of LCE potential, the company said.
The project targets several productive seats within the Dobero Formation, and is scheduled to begin drilling and testing in the summer of 2026.
“With this portfolio expansion, we have materially strengthened our position as a large-scale, diversified lithium developer, and advanced our mission to responsibly unlock lithium resources that will help fuel the North American battery supply chain,” Justin Love, CEO of ION Minerals, said in a press release.
“The newly acquired Saskatchewan-Duperow location complements our existing strategic land holdings in the Texas Panhandle and Texas Smackover, positioning ION among a select group of developers across the continent with significant scale and asset diversification.”
