On Tuesday, Eastern Time, Occidental Petroleum Corporation, a company in which Warren Buffett holds a significant stake, announced a joint venture with Berkshire Hathaway Energy (BHE) to test and deploy technology for extracting lithium from geothermal brine. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is the largest shareholder of Occidental Petroleum, holding over 34% of its shares.
BHE Renewables, a subsidiary of BHE, currently operates 10 geothermal power plants in King’s Valley, California, about 250 kilometers east of San Diego. These plants produce 345 megawatts of clean energy and process 50,000 gallons of lithium-rich saline water per minute. TerraLithium, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum, holds a patent for direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology that converts lithium-rich brine into high-purity lithium.
TerraLithium is currently testing its DLE technology at BHE Renewables’ geothermal facility in King’s Valley to determine its potential for producing lithium in an environmentally friendly manner. If successful, BHE Renewable Energy plans to build a commercial lithium production facility in Empire Valley, California. The joint venture between Occidental Petroleum and BHE Renewable Energy also aims to expand lithium production beyond the Imperial Valley. 
