• LibertyStream has completed site preparations and begun installing its direct lithium extraction and lithium carbonate refining systems at Select Water Solutions’ site in Howard County, Texas.
  
  
• The systems are being integrated with Select’s existing produced water pretreatment and recycling infrastructure and are expected to begin producing technical-grade and battery-grade lithium carbonate in early Q2 2026.
  
  
• This initial deployment is intended to support continued bulk sample production and customer qualification while establishing the systems-integration template for planned scaling at the site and future deployments across major U.S. basins, including the Permian and Bakken.

LibertyStream Infrastructure Partners Inc. (TSXV: LIB | OTCQB: VLTLF | FSE: I2D) (“LibertyStream” or the “Company”) announces that it has completed site preparations and begun installation of its direct lithium extraction and lithium carbonate refining systems at Select Water Solutions’ (NYSE: WTTR) (“Select”) facility in Howard County, north of Midland. The systems are being integrated with Select’s existing produced water pretreatment and recycling infrastructure and remain on schedule to commence initial lithium carbonate production early in the second quarter of 2026.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260311975794/en/

LibertyStream integrating infrastructure at Select's water treatment facility.

This initial deployment is intended to validate LibertyStream’s on-site systems integration at Select, support continued bulk sample production for customer qualification and establish the operating template for scaling throughout the remainder of 2026. By integrating its proprietary direct lithium extraction (“DLE”) technology and refining systems into existing oilfield infrastructure, LibertyStream continues to advance a repeatable development model for future deployments across high-volume U.S. basins, including the Permian and Bakken.

“Our team has made significant progress over the past month preparing the site and installing our DLE extraction and refining systems at Select's facility,” said Alex Wylie, President & CEO of LibertyStream. “We remain ahead of schedule for commissioning and expect to begin initial lithium carbonate production early in the second quarter. This deployment is designed to support bulk sample production and customer qualification while establishing the integration template for planned scaling through the balance of 2026.”

LibertyStream Near-Term Strategy

LibertyStream’s near-term focus is to complete integration with Select’s existing produced water infrastructure and commence lithium carbonate production at the site in early Q2 2026, while advancing the separate commercial-scale expansion targeted to bring annualized production capability to up to 1,000 tonnes by year-end 2026.

To achieve this, the Company intends to:

1. Complete installation, systems integration, and commissioning of its on-site DLE extraction and refining systems in early Q2 2026.

2. Commence lithium carbonate production and continue to ship bulk samples—accompanied by certificates of analysis (COAs)—for customer testing and qualification in both industrial and battery-grade markets.

3. Continue qualifying customers for offtake through an ongoing sampling program supporting additional industrial and battery-grade customer qualification.

4. Advance construction of LibertyStream’s separate commercial-scale DLE extraction and refining system later in 2026, targeting annualized production capability of up to 1,000 tonnes by year-end 2026.

This phased approach is intended to move LibertyStream from initial site integration and production testing at Select to commercial-scale deployment during 2026, while establishing a repeatable operating template for future deployments across major U.S. basins.

About LibertyStream Infrastructure Partners

LibertyStream is a lithium development and technology company aiming to be one of North America’s first commercial producers of lithium carbonate from oilfield brine. Our strategy is to generate value for shareholders by leveraging management’s hydrocarbon experience to deploy our proprietary DLE technology directly into existing oil and gas infrastructure, thereby reducing capital costs, lowering risks and supporting the world’s clean energy transition. We are committed to operating efficiently and with transparency across all areas of the business staying sharply focused on creating long-term, sustainable shareholder value. Investors and/or other interested parties may sign up for updates about the Company’s continued progress on its website: https://LibertyStream.com/.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release includes certain “forward-looking statements” and “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws (collectively referred to herein as “forward-looking information”). When used in this news release, the words “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”, “target”, “plan”, “forecast”, “may”, “will”, “would”, “could”, “schedule” and similar words or expressions, identify forward-looking information. Statements, other than statements of historical fact, may constitute forward-looking information and include, without limitation, the Company’s expectations to replicate the current template across high-volume U.S. basins and related expectations in respect of expansion in Texas and North Dakota; the de-risking scalability of the Company’s refining systems coupled with its DLE technology; management’s expectations relating to the continued results from the refining system and of its ability to continue to produce lithium carbonate therefrom; the ability of the results from pre-commercial operations to date to create meaningful shareholder value and the Company’s ability to secure long-term commercial contracts; anticipated processing capacity of the refining system; the next critical stage of operations for the Company; the Company’s near-term focus of producing consistent lithium carbonate; the Company’s intended near-term strategy and next steps to achieve such strategy; the Company’s intention to initiate offtake discussions with partners; the anticipated steps and timing related to launching full-scale operations in 2026 with the goal of supplying commercial volumes by 2027; the Company’s intention to commence selling all lithium carbonate produced into the spot market in 2026; the anticipated use of proceeds received from recent grant funding and option and warrant exercises to support the advancement of the Company towards commercial-scale lithium carbonate production; and the benefits to the Company’s proprietary DLE technology including the anticipated reduction of capital costs associated with lithium carbonate extraction from oilfield brine by the use of existing oil and gas infrastructure and the support of clean energy transition efforts caused by the deploy of the Company’s proprietary DLE technology. With respect to the forward-looking information contained in this news release, the Company has made numerous assumptions. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies and may prove to be incorrect. Additionally, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause the Company’s actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained herein including the risk that management’s production estimates relating to the Refining Unit turn out to be incorrect and that the timing of launching full-scale operations may be delayed or not occur at all; the risk that the Company is not able to secure appropriate partnerships, customers, and offtake agreements on terms acceptable to the Company or at all; the risk that the Company cannot achieve full commercial-scale operations on the timeline currently anticipated or at all; the risk that the Refining Unit and related DLE technology cannot be scaled on a commercial basis as currently anticipated by the Company or at all; the risk that the anticipated near-term strategy may not be executed as currently anticipated; and, generally, those known risk factors outlined in the Company’s Management’s Discussion and Analysis for the period ended December 31, 2024 and Management’s Discussion and Analysis for the three and six months ended June 30, 2025. All forward-looking information herein is qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement, and the Company disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking information or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments, except as required by law.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260311975794/en/

We remain ahead of schedule for commissioning and expect to begin initial lithium carbonate production early in the second quarter.