Arkansas
Arkansas lithium boom hits milestone with first buyer; 8,000 tonne-a-year deal signed
LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — A major milestone has been reached in Arkansas’ highly anticipated lithium boom—its first customers.
Smackover Lithium has secured the first binding offtake agreement with a commercial client for lithium extracted in Arkansas.
“So this lithium from Arkansas will find its way into global markets, ex China,” said Jesse Edmondson, Standard Lithium’s director of government relations.
Commodity trading firm Trafigura Trading has just signed a 10-year agreement to buy 8,000 metric tonnes of battery-quality lithium carbonate per year from Smackover Lithium’s South West Arkansas Project, a joint venture between Standard Lithium and Equinor, a Norwegian company.
For context, the U.S. as a whole only produces about 5,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium a year.
“The SWA project, once in full production, will produce 22,500 tonnes per year,” Edmondson said. “So this 8,000-tonne-per-year agreement is significant, right? That’s over a third of our annual offtake.”
Last year, Standard Lithium received a $225 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to advance lithium extraction from the Smackover Formation, a briny aquifer beneath southern Arkansas that many hail as what could be America’s best domestic source of the critical mineral.
Beating companies like Chevron and Exxon to the punch, Standard Lithium pioneered direct lithium extraction and since 2020 has operated a demo plant in El Dorado. The company is building a larger facility in Lafayette County that is set to begin operation in 2028.
“We’ve got the only proven technology that works in the Smackover that’s been done through our commercial demonstration plant in El Dorado since May of 2020. And really that has been the proving ground which has unlocked a lot of the federal opportunities for us. So we’re the largest recipient of a DOE grant in the critical mineral space in this hemisphere,” Edmondson told KATV.
“So [we’re] really excited to bring lithium production to the state of Arkansas and really back to the United States. The U.S. used to be a leader in lithium production 40, 50 years ago. So it’s time to reclaim that status,” he said.
The market price of a tonne of battery-grade lithium is volatile, but has recently ranged between $10,000 to $12,000, so the value of what Standard Lithium alone is expected to produce could exceed a quarter of a billion dollars annually.
That’s not counting what Exxon, Chevron, and other companies may produce once they get up and running.
WYNNE, Ark. (KAIT) – Arkansas State Police are investigating a fatal shooting Tuesday at the intersection of C Street and Fitzhugh Circle in Wynne.
Cindy Murphy, communications director at the Arkansas Department of Public Safety, confirmed the shooting but did not provide additional details, including the identity of the victim or whether a suspect was in custody.
“We’re working on a release that will hopefully include additional information,” she said.
Murphy said the Wynne Police Department asked ASP’s Criminal Investigation Division to investigate.
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The No. 36 Arkansas men’s tennis team (16-13) travels to College Station, Texas to begin postseason play at the 2026 SEC Men’s Tennis Tournament. The Razorbacks will face No. 26 Kentucky (16-12) in the first round on Wednesday, April 15 at 2 p.m. CT.
Arkansas and Kentucky met earlier this season on March 8 in Fayetteville, where the Razorbacks earned a 4-3 victory. Arkansas enters the tournament ranked No. 36 in the latest ITA team rankings, led by No. 20 Jakub Vrba in singles. In doubles, the duo of Eric Padgham and Ben Weintraub come in at No. 30 nationally.
Kentucky comes into the matchup ranked No. 26 with a 16-12 overall record. The Wildcats feature multiple ranked players, including Eli Stephenson at No. 21 and Nicolas Arseneault at No. 54 in singles, along with Jack Loutit at No. 82. In doubles, Kentucky is highlighted by the No. 17 pair of Loutit and Stephenson, as well as No. 83 Nicolas Arseneault and Matt Rankin.
The winner of the Arkansas/Kentucky match will advance to face No. 6 Georgia on Thursday.
Live stats and video links are available on the men’s tennis schedule page.
For the latest information on all things Arkansas Men’s Tennis, follow the Hogs on social media by liking us on Facebook (Arkansas Razorback Men’s Tennis) and following us on Twitter and Instagram (@RazorbackMTennis).
Arkansas
Shepherd confirmed as federal judge in Arkansas’ Western District – Talk Business & Politics
John Thomas Shepherd of El Dorado has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be a U.S. District judge in the Western District of Arkansas, according to the offices of U.S. Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton, R-Ark.
Shepherd is a native of El Dorado and graduate of Rice University and the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville, where he was managing editor of the Arkansas Law Review.
He was a partner at Shepherd & Shepherd in El Dorado and also served as a prosecuting attorney, and later judge, for the Arkansas Circuit Court’s 13th Judicial District. He is a member of the Federalist Society, according to a press release from Cotton’s office.
His brother, Matthew Shepherd, is a partner in the El Dorado law firm and is a former speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives. Their father is Federal Judge Bobby Shepherd who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
“I am pleased to congratulate John Thomas Shepherd on his confirmation and am confident he will serve with the same integrity, professionalism and sound judgment he has demonstrated throughout his career,” noted a statement from Boozman’s. “We are grateful for his deep commitment to public service and the rule of law.”
Shepherd succeeds U.S. District Court Judge Susan Hickey who has been on the bench since October 2011. She was chief judge of the district between 2019 and 2025. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas includes 34 counties stretching from Texarkana and El Dorado to Fayetteville and Fort Smith.
Shepherd is the second Western District judge to be confirmed so far in 2026. David Clay Fowlkes, the former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, was confirmed in early February to be a federal judge in the Western District of Arkansas. He succeeded U.S. District Court Judge P.K. Holmes III, and will be in the Fort Smith office.
Other judges now in the Western District are Chief Judge Timothy Brooks (Fayetteville bench), Magistrate Judge Christy Comstock (Fayetteville), Magistrate Judge Mark Ford (Fort Smith), and Magistrate Judge Spencer Singleton (El Dorado).
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