EnergyX enters nuclear materials market: isotopes, Smackover project lens for mine planners
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Energy Exploration Technologies (EnergyX) has launched its NUKE-it platform to produce nuclear-grade lithium isotopes, targeting 15% enriched Lithium-6 for tokamak fusion and 99.999% pure Lithium-7 for thorium molten salt fission reactors. Building on its GET-Lit DLE extraction and refining suite, the company is tying isotope production to its Lonestar Lithium project in the Smackover formation, where it now controls 47,500 acres of lithium-rich brine after a US$26 million land deal. Uranium and thorium materials from upper Smackover limestone reservoirs in Arkansas and Louisiana are planned as follow-on products.
Technical Brief
- NUKE-it platform targets nuclear-grade lithium salts engineered specifically for reactor-grade performance requirements.
- EnergyX’s Lonestar Lithium demonstration plant in southwest Arkansas is described as “near-completed”.
- Additional 35,000 acres in the Smackover were purchased for US$26 million to expand brine access.
- Uranium occurrence is associated with upper Smackover limestone reservoirs in southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana.
- NUKE-it is explicitly framed as supporting advanced nuclear reactor supply chains, including future uranium and thorium products.
- Platform is positioned to address a domestic supply gap for high-specification nuclear materials within US energy security policy.
Our Take
Among the 16 keyword-matched pieces on uranium and lithium isotopes in our database, this is one of the few that links brine-hosted lithium in the Smackover formation with nuclear-grade lithium-6 and lithium-7, signalling a niche where DLE-style brine projects could feed directly into advanced reactor and fusion supply chains.
The US locations cited (southern Arkansas, northern Louisiana, Texas and Florida) align with regions where other Smackover and Gulf Coast brine projects in our coverage are targeting battery-grade lithium, so EnergyX’s NUKE-it and GET-Lit work suggests operators there may be able to chase both EV and nuclear markets from the same resource base.
Achieving 15% Li-6 enrichment and 99.999% Li-7 purity positions EnergyX in a very small group of players in our uranium- and isotope-tagged coverage that are technically aligned with non-proliferation-compliant reactor fuel specs, which could give the Lonestar Lithium project a regulatory and offtake advantage over conventional lithium-only brine projects in the USA.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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