Lithium extraction in the presence of scalants

A process for extracting lithium from a liquid resource, the process comprising:

• a) contacting a lithium-selective ion exchange material with a liquid resource comprising lithium and impurities, to allow said lithium-selective ion exchange material to absorb lithium and impurities from said liquid resource thereby forming a lithium-enriched ion exchange material;
• and
• b) contacting said lithium-enriched ion exchange material with an acidic solution such that lithium and at least a portion of the impurities are eluted from said lithium-enriched ion exchange material to form an eluate solution;
• and
• c) one or more precipitate reduction processes comprising:
• i) adding a chelating agent or anti-scalant to the acidic solution prior to b);
• ii) modulating the pH of the eluate solution during b);
• iii) reducing the concentrations of the impurities in the eluate solution after b);
• or
• iv) a combination thereof;
• wherein a) and b) are repeated at least once and the acidic solution comprises at least a portion of the eluate solution following the first iteration.