Lithium in its pure form is shimmering shiny. In the last year, the price of lithium carbonate, which is a crucial raw material for the manufacture of car batteries, has increased by over 400 percent. Hence the name “the white gold”. By the way, the price of gold has only risen by a few percent during the same time. The new gold rush is for battery metals.
90 percent of the world’s lithium production takes place in Australia, Chile and China. The overwhelming majority of fully processed lithium for battery manufacturing today comes from China. For the US and the EU who do not want to sit in Beijing’s hands, it is an unsustainable situation where the raw materials for car batteries are the new oil.
Important development
– We have seen the consequences of Russia invading Ukraine. If China were to go after Taiwan, we would likely boycott China and have our access to lithium cut off. Therefore, it is critical for the US to develop its own supply, notes Michael McKibben, professor at the University of California.
He is an expert on the geological conditions for lithium extraction at the Salton Sea in southern California, which could go from being one of the poorest areas in the US to one of the country’s most important, if only a fraction of the Klondyke hopes there are fulfilled.
– There are world-class quantities of lithium. If the plans for extraction are carried out, it corresponds to 60 percent of global production today, according to McKibben.
Rod Colwell is CEO of Controlled Thermal Resources, one of the three companies hoping to start mining in 2024 in the area already known as “Lithium Valley”.
Completely new industry
In the EU, Portugal and Serbia have deposits, but protests against mines and open pit mining prevent exploitation. A more environmentally friendly and energy efficient method is the one to be used at the Salton Sea: filtering out lithium and other rare earths from hot mud passing through geothermal power plants. There is such a project in the Rhine Valley in Germany.
Rod Colwell believes this is as big for the US as when oil was found in Texas over a hundred years ago.
– It is a completely new industry that is emerging here. California could become the Saudi Arabia of lithium.