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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.
by 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 agoSeems 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 agoThis 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.