Shale Lithium "ExxonMobil, Occidental Petroleum and Equinor are among a dozen companies seeking to drill for lithium brines in the region. They are piloting direct lithium extraction, an emerging technology that advocates say could support a multibillion-dollar industry in the US — and loosen China’s current stranglehold over lithium-ion battery supply chains. “DLE could do for the US lithium industry and economy what fracking did for the US oil industry almost 20 years ago,”
