The US lithium brine hopeful produced the material from a demonstration plant which is being used for proof of concept and feasibility studies, with a commercial plant to follow.

Standard is trialling two methods of carbonate conversion, which meant splitting the 20,000-litre shipment between an unspecified vendor in Illinois and Standard's pilot processing plant in British Columbia.

Andy Robinson, president and COO of Standard Lithium, said it was a "very exciting time" for the company "because we're approaching the point where we can demonstrate the continuous extraction of lithium from smackover brine and conversion into battery-quality material".

Shares in the TSX-listed firm were trading at just over C$1.30 on Wednesday afternoon, capitalising the company at C$119.72 million.