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Lithium find in Cornwall spurs hopes of regeneration
- _Microft 6y agoIf someone is familiar with the exploration or mining industry: Does this suggest that lithium rich brines could be found elsewhere as well and maybe in which environments they might be expected? Why does it take half a decade to get going in such a case?
- fred_is_fred 6y agoI expect most of the time is spent on getting financing, permitting, mineral rights, building needed infra, finding buyers for it, and also more testing on the size of the find and potential rate of extractions.
- lcamach84 6y agoIt is strange to see the concepts like "regeneration" and "mining" in the same sentence
- timthorn 6y agoIt sounds like this is extraction more than "mining" - the source brine is also being used for geothermal energy. A few more details in this article: https://www.insidermedia.com/news/south-west/globally-significant-find-for-cornish-lithium https://www.insidermedia.com/news/south-west/globally-signif...
- brian_herman__ 6y agoI thought they were talking about Doctor Who.
- derefr 6y agoIf anyone’s wondering why lithium is a somewhat-rare element (only 25th-most abundant in the Earth’s crust) in the first place—given that, by Big Bang nucleosynthesis, it “should” be the nearly as abundant in the universe as hydrogen or helium: we aren’t really sure! It’s an unresolved problem in physics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmological_lithium_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmological_lithium_problem (We do know that stars can “destroy” lithium baryons at high-enough temperatures, and that does explain part of lithium’s rarity. But even given that, it “should” still be 3x more abundant than it is; or rather, the Big Bang should have produced 3x more lithium than it did, given our current models of it.)
- cproctor 6y agoI didn't know Cornwall was a mining center. I thought, "I wonder if there are any good collections of old mining structures and machinery" and then found this [1]. Thanks, old internet! I hope you don't get killed by the walled gardens. [1] http://www.cornishmineimages.co.uk/ http://www.cornishmineimages.co.uk/
- timthorn 6y agoThere are a lot of places to visit, should you find yourself in the area: https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/environment-and-planning/conservation/world-heritage-site/ https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/environment-and-planning/conserv...
- gnufx 6y agoOne definition of a mine was "a hole in the ground with a Cornishman at the bottom", and Cornish pasties were supposedly miners' lunch. See also the Camborne School of Mines. Edit: s/is/was/ and hear Steve Knightley's song "Cousin Jack".
- quickthrowman 6y ago> I didn't know Cornwall was a mining center. Yep, for 4,000 or so years! Cornish tin made its way into lots of Bronze Age goods. It’s amazing to me the extent of trade that long ago, where Cornish tin made its way into the Mediterranean and beyond.
- mrlonglong 6y agoHopefully we can ditch our ICE cars if the price is right. I long to buy a EV car that does 300+ mile range and can charge at 150kw+ for 20k-25k GBP.