Amanda Hall

Amanda Hall is the founder and CEO of Summit Nanotech — a Calgary-based lithium technology company rebranded as Summit Lithium Technologies in 2026 — and the person behind its denaLi direct lithium extraction (DLE) process. DLE is technology that pulls lithium dissolved in underground brine (salt water) directly out of the source, instead of relying on evaporation ponds that take years and large amounts of land and water. Resource investors follow Hall because DLE commercialization is one of the biggest open variables in how much brine-based lithium reaches the market this decade.

A geophysicist who spent years in the oil and gas industry before founding Summit Nanotech in 2018, Hall has taken the company from concept to funded commercialization. In 2021 she won the $1 million grand prize in the Women in Cleantech Challenge run by MaRS Discovery District and Natural Resources Canada, the same year Summit closed a US$10 million Series A and launched a multi-client pilot program in Chile. In March 2025 the company raised US$25.5 million from Evok Innovations, BDC, and LG Technology Ventures to speed commercialization, and it has completed basic engineering — the front-end design work that precedes a construction decision — for its first commercial DLE plant. Summit remains private, which is why it has drawn pre-IPO attention from investors.

Hall's approach is to prove the chemistry at pilot scale before committing to commercial construction. Summit operates a scale-up facility in Santiago, Chile, and validates its sorbent-based process (materials that selectively bind lithium) on partner brines — including a partnership with Power Minerals, where pilot testing on Salta, Argentina brine reported roughly 95 percent lithium recovery. The pitch is sustainability with economics: lower water use and land footprint than evaporation ponds, modular plants sited close to the resource, and process data developers can carry into feasibility work.

Following Hall gives investors a front-row view of whether DLE moves from promise to production. Her commentary spans Canadian lithium opportunities and the South American lithium triangle (Chile, Argentina, Bolivia), and she sits on the advisory board of the Canadian Energy & Climate Nexus and the board of the Chilean Clean Technology Institute. One caveat worth weighing: Hall sells DLE, so her outlook on adoption is understandably constructive — Summit has announced engineering milestones and pilot results, but not yet a producing commercial plant.