And dont worry no geology degree is needed.
What is lithium?
Lithium is a naturally occurring substance found in ionic minerals such as petalite, lepidolite, and spodumene.
These minerals occur primarily in two places: rock formations, or underground brine reservoirs.
What is lithium used for?
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Lithium is most known as an ingredient in rechargeable batteries.
According toIHS Markit, in 2000, about 9% of lithium produced was used for batteries.
Where does lithium come from?
This is the worlds largest single lithium reserve.
The region hosts more lithium than Australia, but mines less.
It benefits from geological conditions that create lithium-rich salt flats.
Another is the Salar del Hombre Muerto salt flat in Argentina.
However, China is lagging behind in extraction, as the nation imports a lot of lithium from Australia.
Lithium mining also occurs to a lesser extent in various places, includingNorth America,Africa, andPortugal.
How is it mined?
There are two main ways depending on where the source of lithium is.
Rock mining:
This is the most common form of mining in Australia and the US.
This is then subject to several chemical treatments to leave behind the white gold lithium.
South America, China, and Africa favor the salt extraction method.
But unfortunately, there are downsides:
Is there a greener way?
Both are working to extract lithium in the respective regions deep thermal waters with a net-zero carbon footprint.
The process draws on naturally occurring, renewable geothermal energy to power the lithium extraction renewable energy by-product.
Deeper waters are significantly hotter than at a shallower depth.
This creates the potential for the use of geothermal waters to produce zero-carbon electricity as well as heat.
This electricity could power a lithium extraction planet extract lithium from the same waters.
Its not all plain sailing though, as both companies are still in the early stages of exploration.
Electric batteries will be a valuable source of energy in the next few decades.
Lets just hope its not too little too late.
Story byCate Lawrence
Cate Lawrence is an Australian tech journo living in Berlin.
