A large lithium deposit has been found beneath the Salton Sea in California. FOX Enterprise correspondent Max Gorden discusses the plans for extraction and considerations over the environmental affect.
A large lithium discover in California’s Salton Sea area may assist enhance home provides of the mineral, which performs a important function in manufacturing of electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
The Salton Sea area of Southern California is at present residence to vital geothermal electrical energy era. An evaluation by a California state fee in 2020 discovered that the area’s lithium focus within the geothermal brines which are a byproduct of electrical energy era is believed to be the best on this planet.
The Division of Power introduced in November 2023 that an evaluation by the Lawrence Berkeley Nationwide Laboratory discovered that the Salton Sea area may have sources to supply over 3,400 kilotons (or 3.4 million tons) of lithium — sufficient to assist greater than 375 million EV batteries. For context, that is greater than the full variety of automobiles on U.S. roads.
The evaporation of parts of the Salton Sea has lower into the area’s tourism financial system in current a long time, and including lithium mining to its rising geothermal power era may very well be a wanted enhance for the world. Nonetheless, some have raised environmental considerations in regards to the mission.
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California’s Salton Sea area has seen the expansion of geothermal power manufacturing, which has led to the invention of large lithium reserves. (David McNew/Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)
FOX Enterprise Community’s Max Gorden spoke with Rod Colwell, CEO of Managed Thermal Sources (CTR), which is shifting ahead with a mission to extract and course of lithium within the area whereas being powered by geothermal power.
CTR’s mission has obtained funding from automakers GM and Stellantis, whereas different corporations even have lithium crops deliberate for the area.
“I’d say, take into consideration perhaps the early days of massive oil,” Colwell mentioned. “It is a very related course of, clear and inexperienced.”
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Managed Thermal Sources is planning a lithium processing facility within the Salton Sea area of Southern California. (David McNew/Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)
A pair of advocacy teams, Earthworks and the Comite Civico del Valle, have filed a lawsuit to decelerate the mission to implement extra stringent safeguards relating to the environmental impact when it comes to water use and dealing with hazardous byproducts from lithium manufacturing.
“It’s going to set the precedent for a way these initiatives transfer ahead, whether or not they observe excessive environmental safeguards and respect for communities,” Earthwork’s Jared Naimark mentioned of the mission and lawsuit.
The lawsuit is at present pending, and a listening to is scheduled for Thursday.
The authorized course of taking part in out surrounding lithium mining in California comes as a current evaluation by the U.S. Geological Survey discovered that the Smackover Formation in Arkansas may have between 5 million and 19 million tons of lithium reserves.
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Geothermal brines within the Salton Sea area of California are believed to have the best focus of lithium on this planet. (Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register through Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)
The U.S. at present imports greater than 25% of its lithium. A USGS report famous that from 2019 to 2022, U.S. lithium imports got here primarily from Argentina (51%) and Chile (43%), with notably smaller quantities imported from China (3%) and Russia (2%).
Australia’s lithium mines had been the world’s most efficient, adopted by Chile and China, per the USGS report. The world’s largest lithium reserves had been Chile with 9.3 million tons, Australia with 6.2 million tons, Argentina with 3.6 million tons and China with 3 million tons, in accordance with the January 2024 report. For comparability, U.S. reserves had been 1.1 million tons of lithium.
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Measured and indicated lithium sources within the report had been 14 million tons for the U.S., lower than Bolivia’s 23 million tons and Argentina’s 22 million tons, although that determine exceeded Chile’s 11 million tons, Australia’s 8.7 million tons and China’s 6.8 million tons.
The USGS report famous that all over the world, lithium’s most important finish use is for batteries (87%), adopted by ceramics and glass (4%), lubricating greases (2%), air therapy (1%), steady casting mould flux powders (1%), medical (1%) and different makes use of (4%).
