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THREAD: The US has more than enough lithium in the ground to supply the needs of all electric vehicles that will be made here. The massive open question is how will it be extracted from the ground? Let's look at those choices. First a story then documents https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/06/business/lithium-mining-race.html
One model is open-pit mining. Take the LithiumAmericas plan on federal lands in northern Nevada. Dig a giant pit and a sulfuric acid manufacturing plant. Extract a massive amt of water from the ground. Then pull the lithium from the clay to get what you need.
But there is a real environmental cost here. A study completed by Trump-era Interior published late last year before the LithiumAmericas was given final federal approval details some of the impact. That is 3,230 gallons of water per minute & thousands acres wildlife habitat, etc
Here is a link to full study, called an Environmental Impact Study. The site would include its own sulfuric acid manufacturing plant, making as much as 2,900 tons a day of acid. And 353.6 million cubic yards of "tailings" i.e. waste over life of the mine. https://eplanning.blm.gov/public_projects/1503166/200352542/20030633/250036832/Thacker%20Pass_FEIS_Chapters1-6_508.pdf#page=29
This approach has generated strong opposition from members of a local Native American tribe, as well as environmentalists and a local rancher, generating lawsuits challenging the project, which is supposed to start construction this year. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nvd.148512/gov.uscourts.nvd.148512.1.0_1.pdf
Tension is so great, our photographer even witnessed a fistfight in March among members of the Native American tribe as Interior Department officials visited the Paiute & Shoshone Tribe to discuss the LithiumAmericas project. TREMENDOUS photos for this piece by @gabriellaangojo
There are a number of open-pit lithium mines now being planned in the U.S. including Piedmont Lithium in North Carolina.
But there is also an entire different kind of lithium production being considered for the United States. It is radically different. Lithium is extracted from brine water extracted from the earth. It is an old idea-but never before commercialized on a large scale.
An open question is if this new method--called direct lithium extraction--can work reliably enough to produce all the lithium the United States needs. One Arkansas operation is already up and running, by company called Standard Lithium.
With direct lithium extraction, instead of digging a giant open pit, the lithium is removed from the brine and then the brine is re-injected back into the earth. Closed loop. Much less environmental impact. We shall see how this plays out.
But there is a lesson here for everyone: The EV revolution comes with real choices. Here is the story again. By @ivanlpenn and @EricLiptonNYT https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/06/business/lithium-mining-race.html
