Saudi Arabia has successfully extracted lithium from brine samples from national giant Aramco's oilfields and plans to launch a commercial pilot programme for direct extraction soon, the Saudi vice minister of mining affairs said on December 17 to Reuters.

Lithium Infinity, also known as Lihytech, a start-up launched out of King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST), will lead the extraction project with cooperation from Saudi mining company Ma'aden and Aramco, Khalid al-Mudaifer told Reuters.

"They are extracting lithium through their new technology they have developed in King Abdullah University for Science and Technology and they are in accelerated development in this regard," he said to the news agency.

"They're building a commercial pilot at the oil fields. So the brines that come out of the field will feed into this commercial pilot on a continuous basis," added Al-Mudaifer.

Lithium is a key component in the batteries of electric cars, laptops, and smartphones.

The Saudi vice minister said that while the cost of extracting lithium from the brine runoffs from oil fields remained higher than the traditional method of extraction from salt flats, he expected that if lithium prices grew the project would soon be commercially viable.

Saudi Arabia, whose economy for decades has relied on oil, has spent billions on trying to turn itself into a hub for electric vehicles as part of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's attempts to find alternative sources of wealth.

Earlier this year IntelliNews previously revealed that neighbouring Iran discovered large lithium deposits in its locations, which are believed to be of interested to Chinese and American automakers in the race to secure future battery supplies

All in all, around 7% of global mineral reserves are found in Iran, making it one of the most important mineral producers in the world, though the country, partly because of the sanctions burden it endures, often lacks the required technology to exploit resources fully.

Mineral products currently make up no more than 0.6% of Iranian GDP. At current rates, Iran’s mineral reserves are worth $700bn, with value-added estimated at $4 trillion, according to Iranian reports.