Topic: 'We don’t have enough' lithium globally to meet EV targets, mining CEO says (Read 218 times)

I didn't know that Afghanistan is rich with that much mineral. Usually when USA goes to invade a place, they come back with those minerals as a result, to keep them there and not get them back does sound a bit like a problem. In the end, they didn't win that war to begin with, they left and left the nation to the worst kind of people, which means that we are going to end up seeing a lot of people who will question the motives.

If there is a chance that those minerals could be digging out then we are going to do it one way or another when the time comes. I am not saying that it will happen right away, but it doesn't look like it is going to be a possibility to leave them there forever neither if we need them to continue.

According to this data --> With 8 million tons, Chile has the world’s largest known lithium reserves.

It is estimated that there are 200 million tons of lithium borate ore in the valley, which would make it one of the world’s largest lithium deposits, supplying 10 per cent of global demand.

Are you saying what I think you're saying?  And by that I mean are you suggesting that the US might find a reason to invade Afghanistan again in order to pillage their lithium?  Either way, that was the first thing I thought when I read the blurb about them having so much of it. 

You honestly have a point there. There has never been a time America has 'helped' without an incentive

But I've read about human rights ignored even at construction sites in UAE / Dubai, so...

This is interesting news, thank you for that.
I will remain somewhat skeptical since they may tell only the good news and some things are hidden, plus the reliability issues many Chinese products have, you know.. so we can have a better image after this gets into heavy commercial use. Still, it's a good step in the good direction.
And this also gives an interesting info: they will probably keep using Lithium...

Tesla has switched their cars to a new 12V Li-Ion battery, hoping to resolve a long-standing issue of the traditional lead acid batteries dying much faster than they typically do in internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.
It appears as though the problem hasn’t been completely resolved as numerous owners in Europe are reporting the new battery can also fail very quickly under certain conditions.
The problem only impacts newly delivered vehicles with a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery, where the 12V Li-Ion battery can die within 20 minutes of the vehicle’s main battery reaching a state of charge (SOC) less than 10%.

If the Taliban are still in power in that country (and I don't see who would replace them), I don't believe that we will see glamor and wealth there, regardless of what is under their feet. Maybe some individuals will get rich, but ordinary people are far from basic human freedoms in that country and that will not change with the Taliban's crazy laws.

It seems that these problems will also become a part of the past, at least if the news that appeared these days is to be believed.

This only means that maybe in 10 years Afghanistan may become the new UAE, with the glamor and riches. How fast, it depends on how fast the rulers there figure this out.

Imho the main problem of EVs is not the lithium now, it's the fact the current type of batteries is not suitable for such use (they don't last long enough and charging is also not fast enough).

China's leading automotive lithium-ion battery maker, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL), revealed a new battery that provides electric vehicles with a driving range of over 1,000 km on a single charge.
With the third generation of cell-to-pack (CTP) technology, the battery named Qilin, or CTP 3.0 battery, has a volume utilisation efficiency of 72 percent and an energy density of up to 255 Wh/kg for ternary battery systems, giving it the highest integration level in the world, according to CATL. Meanwhile, charging takes just 10 minutes in fast mode.

Are you saying what I think you're saying?  And by that I mean are you suggesting that the US might find a reason to invade Afghanistan again in order to pillage their lithium?  Either way, that was the first thing I thought when I read the blurb about them having so much of it.  You know the good 'ol U-S-of-A wouldn't think twice about lying to its citizens about sending troops to a country to fight; it's been done before, and I'm sure it'll be done again.

On a less dark note, maybe lithium will become the next precious metal (or at least its price will make it appear as such, sort of like nickel).  But I'll tell you, if you have bipolar disorder and lithium is the only drug that works for you, you better watch out.  The drug companies that sell lithium carbonate and other salts of Li are probably going to start running low on the key ingredient.  There could be an outbreak of some really off-the-wall people coming soon if electric cars do suddenly become all the rage.

Many years ago back in 2014, it was announced that afghanistan might hold more than $1 trillion dollars worth of rare earth minerals as well as large lithium deposits.

Other countries in the region, like china. Have a friendly relationship with afghanistan which could allow them to tap rare earth minerals present.

China controls a high percentage of rare earth minerals globally. Which also makes them well suited to the task.

Estimates and projections however might not factor those elements in.

are you suggesting that the US might find a reason to invade Afghanistan again in order to pillage their lithium?  

But if demand trends high enough. I would guess a way could be found to untap reserves there.

Climate provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act put the U.S. back on track toward significant emissions reductions, potentially reducing greenhouse gas output by 40% of 2005 levels.

But one miner warned that when it comes to the transportation sector, domestic resources for lithium, the most critical mineral used for electric vehicle production, may not be sufficient enough to meet some of the most ambitious targets. The Biden administration, for instance, aims to slash the sale of gas-powered vehicles to 50% of all new purchases by 2030.

“Yes, we’ll [eventually] have enough, but not by that time,” Keith Phillips, CEO of Piedmont Lithium (PLL), said in an interview with Yahoo Finance Live (video above). “There’s going to be a real crunch to get the material. We don’t have enough in the world to turn that much [lithium] production in the world by 2035."

With the average electric car battery requiring roughly 8-10kg of the metal, lithium remains a crucial material in the transition to emission-free vehicles. Growing demand has caused the price of lithium carbonate to nearly double this year alone, and the IEA projects demand to grow by 40 times in the next two decades, with a majority of that supply coming from outside of the U.S.

That has complicated climate targets set by the Biden administration. The president has called for half of all new vehicles sold by 2030 to be electric, setting aside billions of dollars in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to incentivize drivers to make the shift.

But those same tax credits come with requirements calling for parts and components to be largely sourced in North America, leading some EV makers to push back against the goals on the grounds that they are not realistic.

Piedmont Lithium is looking to cash in on the demand, as one of only a handful of U.S.-based lithium miners. On Thursday, the mining company announced plans to open a lithium processing operation in Tennessee, with construction set to begin in 2023.

Once fully operational, the plant will process 30,000 metric tons of lithium per year. The company is also planning another plant in North Carolina, which will allow the firm to supply lithium for 1 million electric vehicles per year.

“The world has changed,” Phillips said. “We're now in an era where everyone's going to want an electric car. The car companies can't make them fast enough, and people are now looking for the lithium they need for the batteries to go in those electric cars.”

While carmakers like General Motors (GM) have rushed to secure partnerships with domestic mining operations in anticipation of the demand, the Albemarle (ALB) Silver Peak mine in Nevada remains the only operational lithium mine with meaningful output.

Phillips said a slow permitting process has stalled approvals for new production sites. Meanwhile, China has continued to dominate the industry, refining more than half of all lithium supply while Australia and Chile remain the largest producers in the world.

“Projects get permitted [in Australia] in under a year,” Phillips explained. “Here, it's two, four, six, seven, eight years, which is a problem, especially in a business that's booming so fast.”

The White House has moved to accelerate the process by invoking the Defense Production Act to bolster the production of minerals critical to EV manufacturing, including lithium and cobalt. The IRA also established the Advanced Production Investment Tax Credit for domestic production.

But with the demand for EVs far outpacing supply and new mining operations working within a five- to 10-year timeline before coming online, Phillips said that, as it stands, the U.S. cannot meet its clean energy targets with the domestic sourcing priority.

“Energy security is a national issue,” Phillips said. “I think you'll see companies that are thinking about battery plants in different parts of the world or lithium conversion plants coming to America because this investment tax credit will be very valuable…The market opportunity is huge.”


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lithium-supply-ev-targets-miner-181513161.html

Rare Earth: Afghanistan Sits on $1 Trillion in Minerals

The aerial surveys determined that Afghanistan may hold 60 million tons of copper, 2.2 billion tons of iron ore, 1.4 million tons of rare earth elements such as lanthanum, cerium and neodymium, and lodes of aluminum, gold, silver, zinc, mercury and lithium. For instance, the Khanneshin carbonatite deposit in Afghanistan's Helmand province is valued at $89 billion, full as it is with rare earth elements.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/rare-earth-afghanistan-sits-1-trillion-minerals-n196861