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But, seemingly, this one is "The richest known hard rock lithium deposit" so it's got to be worth something, at least it's newsworthy I guess. Anyway, the arti

But, seemingly, this one is "The richest known hard rock lithium deposit" so it's got to be worth something, at least it's newsworthy I guess. Anyway, the article is not about the operation of mining lithium, how to earn money on lithium or even chemical processing, it's about regulation about mining in Maine, the deposit itself just being the driver of the story. It also goes into describing the supply chain around lithium and some other goodies.

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washadjeffmad 5y ago
It doesn't cost much to get a few inches of buzzword copy that makes people ask "why won't they just lift the regulations so we can have the free money?" without really writing anything that leaves readers better and truthfully informed about a topic. We've got good responses by disinterested parties who know a lot about lithium and mining here, and it's the single sided argument funded by unknown sources that is generating the sticky "but what if"s.
cortesoft 5y ago
I did find it interesting that the primary source for this article appears to be the couple who owns the land the deposit is on. They would obviously have an interest in making this deposit seem special, especially since it seems like they want to pressure the state to allow them to mine it.
bcrosby95 5y ago
How do they define richest? Searching online, there's lots of mines with more tons of ore. This one doesn't come close to being within the top 10.
- capableweb 5y ago
  Seems to have to do with that it's "hard rock" instead of something else, and the purity? Not sure, not a chemist/geologist, but here is what they say in the article about it: > The Freemans and researchers at Plumbago North knew the crystals they found were extraordinary as soon as they uncovered them. To determine the concentration of lithium, they sent bulk samples for analysis at labs in Australia and Germany. > The results, said Simmons, were astonishing. The deposit showed an average lithium oxide content of 4.68% by weight. That’s three times the average concentration of the world’s top 10 hard rock lithium mines. By comparison, the world’s second-richest hard rock lithium deposit, the Bernic Lake mine in Manitoba, has a lithium oxide content of 2.76% by weight and contains roughly eight million tons of ore.
  - panick21_ 5y ago
    This is actually quite significant, I must have missed that.
- sanxiyn 5y ago
  "Rich" means high concentration of lithium in ore. This deposit does seem to be top 1 in that measure, 4.68%. For comparison, Greenbushes, THE lithium mine in West Australia, is 1.60%. Note that Greenbushes is actually famous for its high concentration. More typical is Mt Cattlin at 0.50%. This deposit is 3x richer than Greenbushes and 9x richer than Mt Cattlin, which is in fact astonishing as the article says.

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washadjeffmad 5y ago

It doesn't cost much to get a few inches of buzzword copy that makes people ask "why won't they just lift the regulations so we can have the free money?" without really writing anything that leaves readers better and truthfully informed about a topic. We've got good responses by disinterested parties who know a lot about lithium and mining here, and it's the single sided argument funded by unknown sources that is generating the sticky "but what if"s.

cortesoft 5y ago

I did find it interesting that the primary source for this article appears to be the couple who owns the land the deposit is on. They would obviously have an interest in making this deposit seem special, especially since it seems like they want to pressure the state to allow them to mine it.

bcrosby95 5y ago

How do they define richest? Searching online, there's lots of mines with more tons of ore. This one doesn't come close to being within the top 10.

capableweb 5y ago
Seems to have to do with that it's "hard rock" instead of something else, and the purity? Not sure, not a chemist/geologist, but here is what they say in the article about it: > The Freemans and researchers at Plumbago North knew the crystals they found were extraordinary as soon as they uncovered them. To determine the concentration of lithium, they sent bulk samples for analysis at labs in Australia and Germany. > The results, said Simmons, were astonishing. The deposit showed an average lithium oxide content of 4.68% by weight. That’s three times the average concentration of the world’s top 10 hard rock lithium mines. By comparison, the world’s second-richest hard rock lithium deposit, the Bernic Lake mine in Manitoba, has a lithium oxide content of 2.76% by weight and contains roughly eight million tons of ore.
- panick21_ 5y ago
  This is actually quite significant, I must have missed that.
sanxiyn 5y ago
"Rich" means high concentration of lithium in ore. This deposit does seem to be top 1 in that measure, 4.68%. For comparison, Greenbushes, THE lithium mine in West Australia, is 1.60%. Note that Greenbushes is actually famous for its high concentration. More typical is Mt Cattlin at 0.50%. This deposit is 3x richer than Greenbushes and 9x richer than Mt Cattlin, which is in fact astonishing as the article says.