A Fargo company that manufactures lithium batteries for drones and autonomous vehicles will soon rely on lithium produced domestically.
Packet Digital has been using lithium imported from China. But CEO Terri Zimmerman says the company has also been working on standing up an “ally supply chain” to provide the mineral from allied countries, and she says the company is also working on a supply chain within North Dakota.
Zimmerman says that led to a partnership with Wellspring Hydro. That company will extract lithium from wastewater from oil drilling.
“Wellspring is working to turn that waste into a valuable domestic resource,” Zimmerman said. “We’re excited about the quality they have been able to produce.”
Wellspring’s Mat Hirst says his company started looking at the drilling wastewater around 10 years ago.
“Really, the focus is — how do we take a waste stream and turn it into something valuable, not just for the local economy, the oil and gas industry, but also the state,” Hirst said. “We’re extracting it with a special material, and then keeping it.”
Zimmerman says her company plans to add more capacity, as the demand for drones and other vehicles continues. And she says the company is already looking at other rare-earth minerals for their batteries that may come from lignite coal fields.
“I think it’s really an incredible opportunity to turn what we already have, into something the country really needs,” Zimmerman said.
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