A large Lithium deposit has been found beneath the Salton Sea in California. FOX Enterprise Correspondent Max Gorden discusses the plans for extraction and issues over the environmental impression.
A large lithium discover in California’s Salton Sea area may assist increase home provides of the mineral, which performs a essential function in manufacturing of electrical car (EV) batteries.
The Salton Sea area of Southern California is presently dwelling to important 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 might be a byproduct of electrical energy era is believed to be the very best on the earth.
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 provide 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 entire variety of automobiles on U.S. roads.
The evaporation of parts of the Salton Sea has reduce into the area’s tourism financial system in latest many years, and including lithium mining to its rising geothermal vitality era might be a wanted increase for the world. Nonetheless, some have raised environmental issues in regards to the undertaking.
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California’s Salton Sea area has seen the expansion of geothermal vitality manufacturing, which has led to the invention of huge 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 undertaking to extract and course of lithium within the area whereas being powered by geothermal vitality.
CTR’s undertaking has acquired funding from automakers GM and Stellantis, whereas different corporations even have lithium vegetation deliberate for the area.
“I might say, take into consideration perhaps the early days of massive oil,” Colwell mentioned. “This can be a very comparable course of, clear and inexperienced.”
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Managed Thermal Sources is planning a lithium processing facility within the Salton Sea area. (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 undertaking to implement extra stringent safeguards relating to the environmental impression by way of water use and dealing with hazardous byproducts from lithium manufacturing.
“It can set the precedent for a way these tasks transfer ahead, whether or not they comply with excessive environmental safeguards and respect for communities,” Earthwork’s Jared Maimark mentioned of the undertaking and lawsuit.
The lawsuit is presently 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 latest 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 very best focus of lithium on the earth. (Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register by way of Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)
The U.S. presently 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 have been the world’s most efficient, adopted by Chile and China, per the USGS report. The world’s largest lithium reserves have 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 response to the January 2024 report. For comparability, U.S. reserves have been 1.1 million tons of lithium.
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Measured and indicated lithium sources within the report have 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 around the globe, lithium’s essential 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%).
