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TL;DR - in addition to the usual spots at the bottom of drainage basins, lithium also exists in pegmatite and hectorite deposits. But there's currently no comm
by rdiddly 9y ago
TL;DR - in addition to the usual spots at the bottom of drainage basins, lithium also exists in pegmatite and hectorite deposits. But there's currently no commercially-viable process for extracting it. Headline is kind of hype-y.
- hwillis 9y ago> But there's currently no commercially-viable process for extracting it. No, that's just hype. Hard rock lithium -pegmatites- were actually the majority of global lithium until recently. They were/are primarily used in ceramics. Brine-produced lithium has one fewer step to convert to lithium in batteries, but the cost is absolutely marginal. It's plenty easy and commercially viable to produce batteries from pegmatite lithium. Hectorite is specifically what she was talking about as nonviable, which appears to be broadly correct. It requires a couple more steps to extract and costs ~$2/lb[1] compared to current carbonate prices of $2.5-$3.5. So I wouldn't say it's nonviable because it probably helps to put a ceiling on the long-term price of lithium. However high lithium content in these clays is .35-.65% compared to 6%+ in pegmatites. I'm not sure it will ever be relevant. [1]: http://digicoll.manoa.hawaii.edu/techreports/PDF/USBM-691.pdf http://digicoll.manoa.hawaii.edu/techreports/PDF/USBM-691.pd...