By MIKE McNEILL | magnoliareporter.com

ExxonMobil confirmed on Monday that it is drilling wells for lithium-bearing brine in Columbia and Lafayette counties. It also plans to construct by 2027 a lithium production facility in the area to extract the element from brine.

Lithium is an essential component of batteries for electric vehicles.

The company wants to produce enough South Arkansas lithium for more than a million electric vehicles annually by the year 2030.

Patrick Howarth, the lithium global business manager for ExxonMobil, with Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Columbia County Judge Doug Fields and others, made a brief statement Monday morning in Little Rock that broadly outlined what ExxonMobil is doing, or plans to do.

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