The problem of lithium accessibility
We need urgent innovation in the lithium mining sector
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In the previous article, I elaborated that we don’t have the problem of lithium availability. There is enough lithium on Earth to satisfy all of our technological needs and new deposits are regularly discovered. According to the US Geological Survey, Earth has ~80 million tonnes of lithium. In a hypothetical scenario where all lithium is used for electric vehicles, and assuming an average of 8 kilograms of lithium per vehicle, we can have 10 billion electric vehicles running on lithium-ion batteries. That is a large number, considering that currently, we have around 1.5 billion cars on the road, globally. If you add lithium recycling to the mix, then we can definitely say that we have enough lithium.
The problem we have, however, is that of lithium accessibility. Getting to all of that lithium is tricky, especially if we want to do it in an eco-friendly manner. Mines are expensive, polluting, and take years to be fully operational. The sustainability promise of lithium is in opposition to the process of obtaining lithium, and not all lithium sources are cost-efficient. That is why new approaches to lithium extraction are key.
Brines are the traditional lithium source, constituting 2/3 of global lithium production. The Lithium Triangle, nestled between Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile, is an example of a region rich in lithium-containing brines. The so-called salares are salt lakes lying on top of mineral-rich brines, which are extracted and then processed to separate lithium from other minerals. This approach uses up to 2000 liters of water per kilogram of lithium. Such a water-intensive process is problematic, especially in regions that are as dry as the ones where salares are found.
