Chile holds the world's largest lithium reserves and is the world's second-largest producer. Lithium is currently produced from hard rock or brine mines. Australia is the world's biggest supplier, with production from hard rock mines. Argentina, Chile and China mainly produce it from salt lakes.
The world's largest lithium-producing mine is Talison Lithium and Albemarle's Greenbushes hard-rock mine in Australia, which put out 37,000 MT of lithium in concentrate in 2022. Coming in second place is SQM's Salar de Atacama operations in Chile, with 2022 production of 29,500 MT of lithium.
Tesla officially broke ground Monday on a Texas lithium refinery, making it the only U.S. automaker to refine its own lithium. CEO Elon Musk said the refinery will produce enough battery-grade lithium for 1 million electric vehicles by 2025, which would make Tesla the largest processor of lithium in North America.
The mine is a project of Lithium Nevada, LLC - a wholly owned subsidiary of Lithium Americas Corp, whose largest shareholder is the world's largest lithium mining company, Chinese Ganfeng Lithium.
The planned Thacker Pass lithium mine in northern Nevada, the largest known lithium deposit in the United States, has drawn concerns and protests from environmental groups, Native American tribes and local ranchers.
While the question of the supply of lithium for EV batteries is a valid one to raise, the abundant supply of lithium means it is unlikely that the world will ever run out of this vital resource.
A typical EV battery has about 8 kilograms of lithium, 14 kilograms of cobalt, and 20 kilograms of manganese, although this can often be much more depending on the battery size – a Tesla Model S' battery, for example, contains around 62.6 kg (138 pounds) of lithium.
There is only one operational lithium mine in the U.S., in Nevada, and one operational rare earth element mine, in Mountain Pass, Calif., meaning that the U.S. is dependent on other countries for the materials essential for clean energy technologies like batteries, wind turbines, and solar panels.
However, the US is home to what are believed to be the world's largest lithium deposits after those in the so-called Lithium Triangle region in South America. The states of Nevada, North Carolina, and California together host an estimated 4% of the world's lithium reserves.
An aerial view of the Silver Peak Lithium Mine in Silver Peak, Nevada. The facility is the U.S.' lone lithium producer. Much of that demand comes from the booming global EV market, with sales reaching historic levels last year and on track to do so again in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency.
Out of the 26 million tons of global lithium reserves as per the U.S. Geological Survey published in January 2023, Chile was home to the largest lithium reserves base with 9.3 million tons of proven lithium reserves. Australia was ranked #2 based on the lithium reserves with a reserve base of nearly 6.2 million tons.
Before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine, home to approximately 500,000 tons of high-quality lithium and vast quantities of rare earth elements, was poised to be a key player in the global transition to green technology.
With 22 million metric tonnes of global lithium reserves and a single EV requiring an estimated eight kilograms of lithium, global lithium reserves may be exhausted by 2030 for EV use alone.
Running Out of Lithium
An inability to produce enough lithium would result in severe delays to the roll out and implementation of electric transport and renewable power – as such, it is fair to question whether there is enough of the prized element to meet global needs.
Sodium-ion batteries also swerve sharply from lithium-ion chemistries common today. These batteries have a design similar to that of lithium-ion batteries, including a liquid electrolyte, but instead of relying on lithium, they use sodium as the main chemical ingredient.
Lithium in Food Products
The main sources of Li in the diet are cereals, potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, and some mineral waters [44]. It may also be found in some spices such as nutmeg, coriander seeds, or cumin; however, their share in the total supply of this element is negligible in many geographic regions [49].
Nevada is currently home to the only lithium mine in the United States — the Silver Peak mine — which is operated by North Carolina-based chemicals company Albemarle Corp. and began operating in the 1960s.
The Thacker Pass lithium project is located in Humboldt County, Nevada, US. It is 100% owned and operated by Lithium Americas. The mine is estimated to contain proven and probable reserves of 179.4Mt containing 3.1Mt of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE). The mine is expected to have a life cycle of 46 years.
Other U.S. states (California, Oregon, Tennessee, Arkansas, North Dakota and North Carolina) also have lithium deposits, but no clear path to production. Even Maine has a deposit, reportedly one of the richest grade ores in the world.
To benefit from the growth potential in this industry, some of the best lithium stocks to buy include Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), Rio Tinto Group (NYSE:RIO), and Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB).
The Greenbushes lithium mine is an open-pit mining operation which is in Western Australia and is the world's largest hard-rock lithium mine.