Study: Salton Sea area could produce enough lithium for 375 million electric car batteries

[neptronix]

From: Study: Salton Sea area could produce enough lithium for 375 million electric car batteries

The hot brine located in a vast underground reserve beneath the Salton Sea likely contains enough lithium to build batteries for 375 million electric vehicles, according to a new report released Tuesday.

The report from Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory and funded by the Energy Department represents the first time researchers have thoroughly quantified how much lithium might be present in the underground reserve.

Researchers found that an estimated 18 million metric tons of lithium carbonate is likely available in the large underground pool, which isn't connected to the Salton Sea.

That large of a lithium deposit could "enable the United States to meet or exceed global lithium demand for decades," according to a press release from the Department of Energy.

"This is pretty significant, it makes this among the largest lithium brine deposits in the world," said Michael McKibben, a geochemistry professor from UC Riverside who was among the 22 authors who worked on the report. "This could make the U.S. completely self-sufficient in lithium so we're no longer importing it via China."

Pretty amazing we had missed such a huge amount of lithium for so long

 

[harrisonpatm]

I could be misinformed. But aren't elements like cobalt rarer and harder to mine/process then lithium? Not that a new source of lithium wouldn't be great. But as far as I remember, even though mining and processing lithium takes a decent amount of H2O, it gets an unfair share of the bad press regarding battery production. While cobalt iss rarer than lithium and tends to use slave labor. Another reason to start looking at LiFePO4, it doesn't use cobalt.

 

[neptronix]

The amount of cobalt in batteries continues to go down by the year. Many newer chemistries used in cars don't even contain cobalt at all.

People will argue against the environmental impact of everything you could imagine, even if the alternative is worse. I try to stay off that topic, because there's never in a winner in those kinds of discussions.

 

[JackFlorey]

Pretty amazing we had missed such a huge amount of lithium for so long

I think that's been known for decades; many other countries use brines as their main source of lithium, and we've already tapped (and analyzed) the brines used for geothermal power here. But until recently we simply haven't needed much lithium.

 

[JackFlorey]

I could be misinformed. But aren't elements like cobalt rarer and harder to mine/process then lithium?

Yep, cobalt is far rarer. Fortunately it can be recovered from old batteries. (The cobalt used in refineries can also be reused.)

 

[nicobie]

People will argue against the environmental impact of everything you could imagine, even if the alternative is worse. I try to stay off that topic, because there's never in a winner in those kinds of discussions.

I couldn't agree more.

 

[Papa]

Lithium - Price - Chart - Historical Data - News

Lithium increased 16,000 CNY/T or 16.58% since the beginning of 2024, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity. Lithium - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on April of 2024.

tradingeconomics.com

"Lithium carbonate prices plunged further to CNY 108,500 per tonne, the lowest since August 2021, as low demand deepened the current supply glut"....

 

[neptronix]

So funny; at the same time, i've been seeing stories about supposed peak lithium still being spread..