Lithium – Page 31 – Republic of Mining

U.S. seeks new lithium sources as demand for clean energy grows – by Patrick Whittle (Associated Press/PBS News Hour – March 28, 2022)

March 29, 2022

https://www.pbs.org/

NEWRY, Maine (AP) — The race is on to produce more lithium in the United States. The U.S. will need far more lithium to achieve its clean energy goals — and the industry that mines, extracts and processes the chemical element is poised to grow. But it also faces a host of challenges from environmentalists, Indigenous groups and government regulators.

Although lithium reserves are distributed widely across the globe, the U.S. is home to just one active lithium mine, in Nevada. The element is critical to development of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that are seen as key to reducing climate-changing carbon emissions created by cars and other forms of transportation.

A $1.5 billion lithium deposit was discovered near Newry; excavating it poses a challenge (Maine Monitor/Sun Journal – October 25, 2021)

March 29, 2022

https://www.sunjournal.com/

The find, one of the richest on Earth, could test Maine’s 2017 metallic mining laws, considered the strictest in the nation.

NEWRY — The richest known hard rock lithium deposit in the world lies a few miles northeast of the ski slopes of Sunday River and not far from Step Falls, where swimmers can wade in shallow pools formed by hundreds of feet of cascading granite ledge. Smaller deposits have been known in Maine for decades, but this recent discovery, just north of Plumbago Mountain in Newry, is the first to have a major resource potential.

And that potential is staggering: At current market prices, the deposit, thought to contain 11 million tons of ore, is valued at roughly $1.5 billion. Measuring up to 36 feet in length, some of the lithium-bearing crystals are among the largest ever found.

Nipigon-area lithium hunter inks exploration agreement with First Nations – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – March 22, 2022)

March 24, 2022

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Imagine Lithium defining and expanding deposit first discovered in the 1950s

A Vancouver lithium outfit has signed an exploration agreement with three northwestern Ontario First Nation communities – Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek, Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek. and Red Rock Indian Band – in the Lake Nipigon area.

A March 21 news release from Imagine Lithium said the document sets up a framework with the communities for ongoing consultation and accommodation around the company’s exploration work at its Jackpot Lithium Project, 140 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay.

Sudbury junior miner praises province’s new critical minerals strategy – by Jonathan Migneault (CBC News Sudbury – March 22, 2022)

March 22, 2022

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

Canada only supplies a small percentage of the word’s critical minerals

The president and CEO of a Sudbury-based junior miner says the province’s new critical minerals strategy presents an opportunity for Ontario to become more self-sufficient in that area. On Thursday, March 17, Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled the province’s new five-year critical minerals strategy at a press conference at the Lac Des Iles mine, about 125 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, Ont.

The strategy aims to help Ontario capitalize on growing demand for minerals like nickel, lithium and cobalt, which are key components in the batteries used for smart phones and electric vehicles.

Lithium mining: ‘A new Bolivia’, says EnergyX CEO – by Amanda Stutt (Mining.com – March 14, 2022)

March 16, 2022

https://www.mining.com/

When EnergyX founder and CEO Teague Egan first arrived as a tourist in 2018 on Bolivia’s vast salt flats, and learned they contained the world’s largest untapped lithium reserve, the entrepreneur in him saw only blue-sky opportunity.

Bolivia has 9 million tonnes of identified lithium resources buried beneath its salt flats, the largest being the Salar de Uyuni, yet the country has had barely any production of lithium chemicals.

Mining critical minerals for wind farms, solar panels and electric vehicles pose environmental challenges – by Damon Cronshaw (Northern Beach Review – March 14, 2022)

March 14, 2022

https://www.northernbeachesreview.com.au/

Mining for metals and rare earth elements will be a crucial part of a renewable energy future despite the environmental risks, University of Newcastle experts say. The need to eliminate the world’s dependence on fossil fuels means the benefits of mining for green technology outweigh the costs.

University of Newcastle Associate Professor Hao Tan said the mining of critical minerals would present environmental challenges. “But the scale of mining activities in relation to critical minerals is much smaller than those of other major resources in Australia, such as iron ore and coal,” Dr Tan said.

Critics urge government to block Russian investment in Canadian-owned lithium mine – by Anita Balakrishnan (Financial Post – March 12, 2022)

March 14, 2022

https://financialpost.com/

The federal government should block a Russian state-backed investment in a Canadian-owned lithium mine, critics say, as Ottawa looks for ways to punish Russia economically for its invasion of Ukraine.

At the end of November, Vancouver-based Alpha Lithium announced a deal to sell 15 per cent stake of its Tolillar Salar mine in Argentina to a subsidiary of Uranium One, which is part of a network of companies owned by ROSATOM, Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation.

Frontier Lithium boosts spodumene resources ahead of prefeasibility study – by Naimul Karim (Northern Miner – March 9, 2022)

March 11, 2022

https://www.northernminer.com/

With the aim to supply raw materials for about half a million electric vehicles annually by 2025, Frontier Lithium (TSXV: FL; US-OTC: LITOF) has stepped up its pace by quadrupling indicated resources at its Spark deposit in northwestern Ontario.

Spark now hosts 14.4 million tonnes grading 1.40%, up from the previously estimated 3.3 million tonnes grading 1.59%, after the company conducted two drill programs last year covering 3,269 meters.

Thacker Pass lithium project gets national spotlight – by Timothy Burmeister (Elko Daily Free Press – March 10, 2022)

March 11, 2022March 11, 2022

https://elkodaily.com/

Thacker Pass today is a quiet stretch of land in Northern Nevada, rolling prairie nestled against the mountains, with lots of sagebrush and few people around.

But in the past year the area has become a hotspot of controversy, with national media pulling in to talk with protesters opposed to the Thacker Pass lithium mine that Lithium Americas is working toward building on the site. Some protesters have been camped out near the project site. Lengthy stories have been written on the protesters and the project.

Researchers Examine the Negative Impact on Flamingo Population Due to Climate Change and Lithium Mining (AZO Cleantech – March 10, 2022)

March 11, 2022

https://www.azocleantech.com/

Lithium is powering the world’s electric vehicles, making it a critical component in the fight against carbon pollution. According to a new study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the conjunction of lithium mining and climate change in the Andes Mountains may be seriously impacting flamingo populations.

The research looked at the impacts of lithium mining and climate change on shallow, saltwater lakes in the Chilean Andes, where flamingos congregate for eating and mating. The findings demonstrate that two species of flamingos that exclusively breed in these mountains had lost 10 to 12% of their population in just 11 years, but only at the lake polluted through mining.

This is why lithium skyrocketed 10x over two years and is critical to national security (Kitco News – March 4, 2022)

March 4, 2022March 4, 2022

https://www.kitco.com/

Lithium is a metal that is used in almost all electronics today, with a surge in demand over the last two years pushing up the price more than ten times during that time.

The metal’s production is concentrated in only a few countries, with 80% of the global production and refining coming from China. This presents a unique national and economic security challenge. In fact, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has declared that lithium is “essential” to U.S. economic security and “critical” to national security.

AFRICA: DRC tin mining town finds hope in lithium – by Annie Thomas & Lucien Kahozi (Mail and Guardian – March 3, 2022)

March 4, 2022

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Near the rusting carcass of a smelter, barefoot men and women scratch the ground in the quest for cassiterite — the tin oxide ore that generations ago gave the town of Manono a taste of the good life.

The diggers carry the sandy earth to the Lukushi River where women wash the grit in metal bowls, hoping to find some black nuggets from which to make a living. Standing in the water from morning to evening and looking for ore brings in between 15 000 and 18 000 Congolese francs ($7.50 to $9) a day.

Before Invasion, Ukraine’s Lithium Wealth Was Drawing Global Attention – by Hiroko Tabuchi (New York Times – March 2, 2022)

March 4, 2022

https://www.nytimes.com/

Deep below the ground in Ukraine, where Russia continues to mount an aggressive attack, lies vast, untapped mineral wealth that could hold the keys to a lucrative, clean-energy future for the Eastern European nation.

Ukrainian researchers have speculated that the country’s eastern region holds close to 500,000 tons of lithium oxide, a source of lithium, which is critical to the production of the batteries that power electric vehicles. That preliminary assessment, if it holds, would make Ukraine’s lithium reserves one of the largest in the world.

Chinese electric vehicle battery king urges Beijing to speed up lithium mining as global scramble for ‘new oil’ intensifies – by Iris Deng (South China Morning Post – March 3, 2022)

March 4, 2022

https://www.scmp.com/

Zeng Yuqun, chairman of China’s largest electric-vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer, has suggested that the Chinese government speed up “exploration and development” of lithium resources in the country to ensure supply chain security amid a global shortage of the rare earth metal as more people move to EVs.

Zeng, chairman of Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL), included lithium development as one of his proposals submitted to authorities in his capacity as a delegate of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country’s top political consultative body.

Lithium production: Two new ways of extracting lithium from brine (The Economist – February 26, 2022)

February 25, 2022

https://www.economist.com/

How to increase the supply of an increasingly valuable metal

Around 60% of the world’s lithium, a metal in high demand for making batteries, comes from evaporation ponds, like that pictured overleaf, located in deserts in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.

These ponds, which can have individual areas of 60km2 or more, are filled with lithium-rich brine pumped from underground. That brine, as the ponds’ name suggests, is then concentrated in them by evaporation, after which it is treated to purge it of other metals, such as sodium and magnesium, and the lithium is precipitated as lithium carbonate.