PFE - Trump Executive Order singles out Smackover lithium project

Overnight, a Smackover lithium project was selected as one of the first critical mineral production projects to be advanced under Executive Order 14241.

EO 14241 (Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production) was signed by Trump on March 20th.

The sole purpose of the EO is to encourage domestic production of critical minerals and reduce all of the permitting hurdles that slowdown project timelines.

The project that received this designation was Standard Lithium and Equinor’s Joint Venture - the same project that had previously received a US$225M grant from the Department Of Energy (DOE).

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So the US government is backing the Smackover formation in Arkansas with capital and fast-tracked permitting process’.

All of this is good news for our Investment in the Smackover - Pantera Lithium (ASX: PFE).

The Smackover has attracted petrochemical giants $745BN Exxon and $111BN Equinor.

PFE is the only ASX listed lithium exposure with a project in the Smackover in Arkansas, USA.

What’s next for PFE?

PFE has established an exploration target of 436Kt to 2.96Mt of Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (LCE).

Next, PFE will drill the project to convert the exploration target into a JORC resource.

A few weeks ago PFE released a plan to drill three wells across six different targets.

PFE’s plan is to drill and prove up a maiden JORC lithium resource for its project in H2 2025.

Here is a timeline from PFE’s latest investor presentation:

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PFE has mentioned that it would commence “discussions with potential strategic partners” which could accelerate drilling progress significantly…

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