Summit Explore Launches Seed Financing Round to Build a New Generation of Western Lithium Brine Projects
Summit Explore Corporation ("Summit Explore"), a newly formed lithium brine development company backed by Summit Nanotech, today announced the launch of its US$8 million seed financing round to accelerate the acquisition and development of high‑value brine assets across Chile, Argentina, and the United States. The company begins operations with three secured projects and two additional assets under negotiation.
Lithium is a strategic material essential to every country's defense and energy-related supply chains. Summit Explore was created to meet the rapidly expanding demand for Western lithium supply as global lithium consumption moves into a sustained multi‑decade growth cycle. Industry analysts project lithium demand to more than triple by 2035, while supply remains constrained by long development timelines and heavy geographic concentration. This dynamic creates a significant opportunity for new, low‑cost brine producers to enter the market.
A central advantage for Summit Explore and its project partners is direct access to Summit Nanotech's proprietary denaLi™ Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) platform, a high‑performance technology that delivers 95–99% lithium recovery with dramatically reduced water use. denaLi™ performs consistently across diverse brine chemistries, enabling Summit Explore to pursue a unique paleosalar acquisition model targeting large brine deposits overlooked by conventional developers that become economic only with advanced DLE. Summit Nanotech's years of community collaboration and in-house engineering provide time and cost advantages to Summit Explore.
The company's development pathway is built around an elegantly aligned BOOM model (Build‑Own‑Operate‑Maintain). Similar to well-established contract processing operations in other commodities, Summit Nanotech (which will remain a major shareholder in Summit Explore) finances, builds, and operates the DLE plant for each project deemed economically viable. This alignment accelerates execution while reducing the total capex burden.
"Summit Explore offers investors a rare combination: low‑cost resource development, best‑in‑class extraction technology, and a capital structure designed to scale efficiently," said Amanda Hall, Founder and CEO of Summit Nanotech and Summit Explore. "With denaLi™ and the BOOM model, Summit Explore and our project partners can directly address global reliance on foreign lithium supply chains."
The seed round will fund resource confirmation drilling, pilot testing, and preliminary economic assessments across the company's initial portfolio. As Western nations compete for secure, high quality and cost-efficient lithium, Summit Explore aims to become a North American-based strategic supplier.
About Summit Explore
Summit Explore is a private lithium brine development company focused on acquiring and advancing high‑potential brine resources in the Lithium Triangle and the US. The company leverages Summit Nanotech's patented denaLi™ DLE technology and an aligned Build-Own-Operate-Maintain (BOOM) development model to deliver scalable, low‑cost lithium supply to the global battery industry.