33 Projects, One Channel and What Industry Is Lining Up at the Port of Brownsville, and the $607 Million Lithium Refinery Few People Are Talking About

33 PROJECTS, ONE CHANNEL: WHAT INDUSTRY IS LINING UP AT THE PORT OF BROWNSVILLE

BROWNSVILLE - 140,000 metric tons of lithium ore a year. 55,000 metric tons of sulfuric acid. A kiln running at roughly 1,080 degrees Celsius. About 130,000 metric tons of mineral residue left over every year.

Those are the design numbers for a lithium refinery an Australian company wants to build on 35 acres at the Port of Brownsville. It has drawn almost no public attention in the Valley.

It is one entry on a much longer list.

The 956 Report reviewed an evidence brief dated November 3, 2026, that tracks 33 projects, components and shared infrastructure scopes across the Lower Rio Grande Valley. The brief maps each one against seven shared systems: water, energy, drainage, habitat, road and rail, marine traffic and emergency response. It also assesses engineering and planning records the Port of Brownsville produced in response to a five-part records request.

The brief's central finding is narrow and specific. The records the Port produced include selected cargo forecasts and engineering studies for berths and navigation. They do not show how the full regional inventory of industrial projects and shared infrastructure has been assessed together at full buildout.

The brief is careful about what that means. It states that the finding is based on what was produced, not proof that no other assessment exists. It also notes that regional planning reaches beyond the Port's jurisdiction.

Here is what is coming, what is confirmed, and what remains unanswered.

PART ONE: THE LITHIUM REFINERY

WHO IS BEHIND IT

Lithium Universe Limited trades on the Australian Securities Exchange under the symbol LU7. Its flagship project is a planned lithium refinery in Becancour, Quebec. Brownsville is its second.

The company first disclosed the Brownsville plan in October 2025. It said at the time it was already evaluating land in the Port of Brownsville Business Park for a separate solar panel recycling venture, and that the site could hold two lithium refinery trains alongside recycling operations.

In January 2026, company executives visited the site and met with port officials, utility providers and logistics companies. The company said it would move into a formal land lease application and begin a scoping study.

In September 2026, Lithium Universe released a pre-feasibility study for what it calls the Brownsville Lithium Refinery.

WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT IT IS NOT

This is not a battery factory. No batteries would be assembled here.

It is a lithium conversion refinery. It would take imported spodumene concentrate, a lithium-bearing rock mineral, and chemically convert it into battery-grade lithium carbonate. That white powder is then shipped to manufacturers who make battery cathodes, mainly for lithium iron phosphate batteries used in electric vehicles and grid storage.

The company says North America has a "lithium conversion gap." Most of the world's lithium refining happens in China. Lithium Universe pitches Brownsville as a way to process lithium on U.S. soil.

THE NUMBERS, ACCORDING TO THE COMPANY

All figures below come from Lithium Universe's September 2026 pre-feasibility study unless noted. They are company estimates and projections, not independent findings.

Capacity: up to 18,270 metric tons of battery-grade lithium carbonate per year.

Feedstock: about 140,000 metric tons of spodumene concentrate per year.

Capital cost: about $607 million, including a $130 million contingency.

Funding needed: $620 million to $650 million, which the company says it has no certainty of raising.

Site: a 35-acre parcel on Chemical Road inside the Port of Brownsville industrial area.

Projected annual revenue: about $383 million.

Ramp-up: three years to full production after startup.

Power: about 22.5 megawatts, a figure attributed to company chairman Iggy Tan in a company video, as reported by RGV.me.

The study itself carries a cautionary statement. It is rated at an accuracy range of minus 30 percent to plus 30 percent. The company states there is no certainty the projected outcomes will be achieved.

THE CHEMISTRY COMING TO CHEMICAL ROAD

The company describes the process as a conventional method dating to the 1950s, modeled on a refinery in Jiangsu, China, that company leadership helped build in 2012.

The steps, as described in the study:

1. The spodumene is heated in a natural gas-fired rotary kiln to about 1,080 degrees Celsius to change its crystal structure.

2. It is mixed with concentrated sulfuric acid and roasted at about 250 degrees Celsius.

3. The lithium is dissolved in water, purified, and reacted with soda ash to form lithium carbonate.

4. The product is purified again with carbon dioxide, dried and milled into a fine powder.

According to the study, the plant would bring in these materials every year:

Sulfuric acid: about 55,000 metric tons, delivered by truck.

Soda ash: about 39,800 metric tons, which the company says could come by rail from Wyoming.

Limestone: about 14,800 metric tons.

Sodium hydroxide: about 3,600 metric tons.

Hydrochloric acid: about 3,930 metric tons.

Hydrogen peroxide: about 2,010 metric tons.

The company says kiln exhaust would pass through cyclones and an electrostatic precipitator, and acid fumes from the roasting step would be treated with a wet scrubber. The cost estimate includes an allowance for a zero liquid discharge system.

WHAT GETS LEFT BEHIND

Two large byproduct streams would come out of the plant, according to the study.

Sodium sulfate: about 54,000 metric tons per year. The company says it plans to sell it to detergent, textile and glass makers, mainly in Africa, and has a memorandum of understanding with a distributor.

Alumina silicate residue: about 130,000 metric tons per year. That is close to the weight of ore coming in. The company says it intends to market the residue to cement makers in Texas and Mexico as a cement additive. It says it has begun discussions with Amrize Canada, its residue buyer for the Quebec project, which also operates cement plants near the border.

Discussions are not contracts. If the residue does not sell, the public record reviewed so far does not show where 130,000 metric tons a year would be stored or disposed of. That is a question for the company and the Port.

WHERE THE ORE COMES FROM

The company has a binding 10-year offtake agreement with Norah Mining Limited for spodumene from a concentrator being built in northwest Nigeria. The agreement covers up to 80,000 metric tons per year. The refinery is designed to use about 140,000.

The study states that if the refinery is not ready, the company plans to trade the Nigerian material on the open market. Supply for the remainder would have to come from other sources the company names as Brazil, other parts of Africa and North America.

WHERE IT STANDS TODAY

Confirmed by company disclosures:

A pre-feasibility study is complete.

The company says it has applied for a land lease and, according to RGV.me, requested a two-year option over about 35 acres.

Not established in the records reviewed:

An executed lease with the Brownsville Navigation District.

Any air, water or waste permit application.

Financing.

A final investment decision.

The company's own listed next steps are a definitive feasibility study, securing the site through a long-term lease, advancing permits and environmental studies, finalizing ore supply and arranging financing.

The evidence brief reflects the same gaps. It lists the project as a proposal with site control, process design, permit applicant identity, discharge plans and cumulative demand all unresolved. It found no project-specific environmental study.

Lithium Universe also reported a board turnover in May 2026, with three directors appointed and three resigning, according to its half-year report.

WHY IT MATTERS HERE

Seven of seven shared systems in the brief are marked as potential pathways with unknowns for this project: water, energy, drainage, habitat, road and rail, marine and emergency response.

Sulfuric acid and caustic chemicals moving by truck through Brownsville. A gas-fired kiln. A residue pile, if the cement market does not take it. Hurricane exposure on the Gulf coast, which the company says its design will address through elevated electrical systems and flood mitigation.

None of that means harm is established. It means these are the questions the public has not yet seen answered.

PART TWO: THE REST OF THE LIST

The brief tracks 28 entries from an October 15, 2026 baseline plus five additional scopes. It warns against adding them up as 33 separate construction sites. Parent projects and their components overlap. One entry is withdrawn. One is unverified.

Here are the major industries, grouped.

SHIPBUILDING

Saronic Port Alpha. Austin-based autonomous vessel maker Saronic announced on July 16, 2026, that it selected the Port of Brownsville for a shipyard it values at more than $3 billion. The company says the site starts at 835 acres with room to grow to nearly 4,400 acres. It says the yard would build vessels up to 850 feet at first and more than 1,200 feet later. Construction was announced to begin in 2026 with operations in 2028. The company projects up to 10,000 direct jobs over a decade. USNI News reported the site selection followed a local tax abatement deal.

The brief marks water demand, power demand and the exact chain of building and quay authorizations as unresolved. It lists an executed lease, phase permits and water, power, shoreline fill and emergency plans as open questions.

OIL REFINING

America First Refining, formerly Element Fuels. President Trump announced the project on March 10, 2026, as the first new U.S. oil refinery in about 50 years. The site covers more than 240 acres at the Port. Element Fuels stated in 2024 that it had permits for a refinery producing more than 160,000 barrels a day of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. The company says it will create 500 direct jobs.

The project has a long history. Reporting by Inside Climate News, as summarized by Oil and Gas Watch, says earlier developers sought three extensions to begin construction before Element took over in January 2024. The company said groundbreaking would come in the second quarter of 2026. The 956 Report has not independently confirmed whether construction has begun.

The brief notes a TCEQ air permit and a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit for a dock, but says the full authorization chain is incomplete.

LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS

Rio Grande LNG (NextDecade). Trains 1 through 5 are under construction on the north shore of the ship channel. On May 26, 2026, NextDecade filed a federal application, Docket CP26-532, for Train 6 and a third marine berth. Trade reporting on the application says Train 6 would add about 6 million metric tons a year and the project could see up to 510 LNG vessel calls a year at the terminal. FERC set June 25, 2027, for its final environmental impact statement.

Source: FERC eLibrary, Docket CP26-532-000, Rio Grande LNG Train 6 application (filed May 26, 2026).

Texas LNG (Glenfarne). A separate 4-million-ton-per-year terminal at the Port. FERC reissued its authorization in August 2025 with construction to be complete by November 2029. In July 2026, the company announced a $500 million investment from HPS Investment Partners and issued a limited notice to proceed to contractor Kiewit for engineering and long-lead equipment. As of that July reporting, a final investment decision had not been announced. The brief flags the actual construction phase as something to verify.

Pipelines. The brief tracks the roughly 145-mile Bay Runner feeder line, the Rio Bravo pipeline and compressor stations, and a 16-inch SpaceX gas line it calls Starpipe. It stresses they are separate lines.

SPACEX AND STARBASE

The brief treats SpaceX as a parent project with several components:

A proposed expansion to 456 launches and 912 landings a year, now under a new federal environmental impact statement. The brief notes the existing environmental reviews covered 25 launches a year and do not approve the larger number.

A Boca Chica generating facility. According to TCEQ registration 185303, project 414660, as summarized in the brief, the authorization covers 35 temporary and 8 permanent turbines. The temporary configuration totals 747.74 megawatts and the permanent configuration 708.48 megawatts. The brief cautions that the 1,456.22 megawatt sum does not prove simultaneous capacity. Clarification is pending.

A reported 700,000-square-foot Gigabay factory, a marine terminal and heavy-haul corridor tied to a 444-acre tract, and the Project Quantum water and wastewater arrangement with Brownsville utilities of up to $220 million.

A contemplated disposition of Boca Chica State Park land. The brief states a completed transfer is not established.

DATA CENTERS AND POWER

The brief tracks several data center and power projects. All figures are company or filing numbers, not current operating load.

Eneus Energy RGV Data Center near Harlingen: company figure of up to 2 gigawatts.

Fluidstack RGV Campus: first phase of 1.5 gigawatts; advertised at more than 1,100 acres versus 580 acres disturbed.

Soluna Kati 1: 83 megawatts.

Soluna and Metrobloks Kati 2: 350 megawatts planned in two phases.

Soluna Hedy: 198 megawatts.

Soluna Ellen: 145 megawatts.

Karpower Valley: marketed 2 gigawatts of generation. The brief notes that generation is not the same as computing demand.

MDC Brownsville hub and an international fiber crossing.

These figures should not be added together. They measure different things, and several projects are at early stages.

AEP's proposed 765-kilovolt transmission expansion is tracked as shared grid infrastructure. The brief warns against assigning its cost to any single tenant or treating a proposal as approved.

PORT INFRASTRUCTURE

Brownsville Ship Channel deepening from 42 to 52 feet.

A Port of Brownsville East Basin concept estimated at about $300 million, with terminal expansion and provisions to relocate the fishing fleet. The brief says the presentation dates to 2024 and its dimensions need to be reconciled. For the shrimp fleet, that relocation language deserves its own follow-up.

Upgrades proposed for six existing docks: Cargo Docks 15 and 16, Oil Docks 3 and 5, the Liquid Cargo Dock and the Bulk Cargo Dock. These are existing facilities, not new sites.

Port of Harlingen: a rail and industrial park of roughly 550 to 600 acres and a turning-basin expansion.

ON THE WATCH LIST

A Randr proposal at 7480 Padre Island Highway. Its specific-use application was withdrawn.

Project Anawa La. Its identity and scope are unverified.

PART THREE: WHAT THE PORT'S OWN RECORDS SHOW

According to the brief, the records request asked for five things. Here is how the brief scores the Port's response.

1. Vessel and cargo forecasts. Partly answered. Engineering firm Jacobs modeled selected cargo types through 2050, including LNG, petroleum, metals, wind components and dry bulk. The LNG forecast assumes 17 million metric tons a year in 2030 and 34 million in 2040. The brief says this is not a complete combined traffic and berth-capacity model.

Source: Port of Brownsville records production, Vessel Fleet Study, file "2024 09 20 KL to AC.pdf"

2. Which industrial users were included. Rio Grande LNG is expressly included. The brief says the engineering compilation did not identify SpaceX, Saronic, America First Refining or Texas LNG by name. Lithium Universe is not mentioned in that finding either.

3. Dock and berth planning. Substantial. Six docks were evaluated for upgrades. The brief says the recommendations do not establish funding, final design, permits or completed construction.

4. Combined full-buildout capacity. Not demonstrated by the records produced. The brief says studies address specific vessel-passing and maneuvering conditions. It did not locate a combined assessment of all projects, emergency response, hazardous materials, rail and heavy-haul demand.

5. Updated forecasts after new announcements. The substantive studies date from 2024 and March 2025. The brief says the records do not show a later update through the September 5, 2026 request cutoff. That window includes the Saronic, America First Refining and Lithium Universe announcements.

THE ENGINEERING FINE PRINT

Two details in the Port's engineering records stand out.

A November 2024 passing and mooring report states that the structural capacities of existing bollards, the posts ships tie up to, were unknown. Its summary calls for checking a 250-kip lateral load case at Dock 15 and recommends lower passing speeds in some scenarios.

Source: Port of Brownsville records production, passing and mooring report, file "2024 11 08 KL to AC.pdf"

A March 2025 engineering summary says dock inspection reports were unavailable and that a site visit by boat was a visual observation, not an inspection.

Source: Port of Brownsville records production, engineering summary and appendices, file "2025 03 28 AC to MD.pdf"

Neither finding means any dock is unsafe. They mean the documents themselves say key structural information was not in hand when the studies were done.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The brief's last line on scope says each project must be linked to the resources and infrastructure it actually uses. Right now, many of those links are still blank.

A lithium refinery, a shipyard, an oil refinery, two LNG terminals, a rocket launch expansion and multiple data centers are all pointed at the same channel, the same grid, the same water supply and the same emergency responders. Each has its own review, or none yet. The records reviewed here do not show anyone adding them up.

That is not an accusation. It is the gap the public should be asking about before the next vote.

SOURCES

Regional buildout evidence brief, November 3, 2026, including its summary of Port of Brownsville records production (Jacobs passing/mooring report, Nov. 8, 2024; Jacobs engineering summary, Mar. 28, 2025; Vessel Fleet Study, Sept. 20, 2024; East Basin presentation, Apr. 12, 2024; MARAD funding notice, Dec. 29, 2025)

Lithium Universe, Brownsville Lithium Refinery Pre-Feasibility Study, ASX announcement, Sept. 7, 2026

Lithium Universe site visit announcement, Jan. 6, 2026, and half-year report

RGV.me, "$607 Million Lithium Refinery Proposed for Port of Brownsville Advances With New Study," Sept. 21, 2026

Saronic press release, July 16, 2026; USNI News; gCaptain

KBTX; Trade and Industry Development; Oil and Gas Watch summarizing Inside Climate News, on America First Refining

NextDecade Q2 2026 results release; FERC Docket CP26-532; LNG Prime

Texas LNG / Glenfarne releases; Pipeline and Gas Journal; Argus Media