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Pop quiz: name the world’s largest producer of lithium. Lithium production is important but lithium is not the next oil. It’s not going to dominate the world
by rgmerk 4y ago
Pop quiz: name the world’s largest producer of lithium.
Lithium production is important but lithium is not the next oil. It’s not going to dominate the world economy. There aren’t going to be wars fought over it. And we will ultimately extract plenty of it to build EVs.
- glitchc 4y agoChina.
- comte7092 4y agoIIRC China is the worlds largest refiner, but they are not the largest producer. The largest producers are Australia and Chile.
- slackdog 4y agoAustralia sometimes seems like a huge mine with some cities around the fringes.
- glitchc 4y agoThanks for the emphasis, but production isn't defined the way you want it wishfully to be defined. Lithium ore is not very useful at all. It's refined lithium everyone cares about and China is responsible for ~60-70% of the world's lithium production: https://themeghalayan.com/china-controls-70-of-global-lithium-production-thats-a-worry-for-the-world/ https://themeghalayan.com/china-controls-70-of-global-lithiu...
- comte7092 4y agoFactories can be relocated, mines cannot.
- glitchc 4y agoIf it were so simple then oil refineries would exist everywhere, yet they don't. This suggests that major investments in refining infrastructure pays huge dividends for the nation.
- comte7092 4y agoOil refineries exist where they do largely as a function of technical complexity and shipping costs (ie pipeline infrastructure). Just because it’s called “refining” doesn’t mean that lithium refining is anywhere near as complex as oil refining. The component of the oil analogy that does correlate is the fact that oil refineries are generally situated close to where the end products are consumed. Which in the case of lithium is batteries, the production of which is indeed largely sited in China as well. That is to say, China doesn’t control the supply of lithium, rather they control the supply chain of lithium based goods. That may seem like a minor difference, but the resolution to that is categorically different. Of note: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/tesla-lithium-refinery-texas-expansion-17815692.php https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/tesla-lith...
- rgmerk 4y agoWhich brings me back to my point - big lithium deposits in countries with unfriendly relationships with the US and its allies isn’t as big a deal as people think.