Arkansas lithium deposit could solve global electric vehicle battery problem

Arkansas could be home to a massive resource that could transform the world's energy needs: a valuable battery component called lithium, nicknamed “white gold” and “the new gasoline.”

This is an important discovery because renewable energy requires batteries and many batteries require lithium. But the resource is scarce worldwide, and particularly in the United States.

A release from the U.S. Geological Survey this week suggests the U.S. may have all the lithium it needs in an ancient brine dating back to the Jurassic period buried deep beneath southern Arkansas.

Between 5 and 19 million tons of lithium could be buried there, enough to meet projected global demand for lithium car batteries by nine times, the USGS said in a statement.

The catch: figuring out how to extract so much lithium without harming the environment and the water table. Lithium is notoriously difficult to extract and has been linked to water shortages and other problems.

The discovery in Arkansas is not unprecedented: other countries also have huge, difficult-to-access lithium deposits. But the Arkansas site has already attracted the attention of companies like Exxon, which are looking to develop practical ways to mine the valuable metal.

What is lithium and why do we need it?

Lithium is a soft, silvery alkali metal that is so reactive and flammable in its pure form that it must be stored either in a vacuum or in an inert gas such as argon or an inert liquid such as mineral oil.

Fast-charging batteries with high energy density and long life are also being produced, which is why lithium-ion batteries are used in cell phones, laptops, electric vehicles and for large energy storage systems.

The rush for the “white gold”: Why lithium demand is skyrocketing and what that means for consumers

Unfortunately, it is also in short supply as the world shifts from burning fossil fuels for energy to carbon-neutral energy sources like solar and wind. Utility-scale battery systems make it possible to store energy when the wind blows and the sun shines, and use it when people want it.

This is particularly important in wind- and solar-rich areas such as the U.S. “wind corridor,” which runs from North Dakota and Montana south to western Texas, and for utility-scale solar energy, where the resource is richest in the southeast and southwest .

Does the US have enough lithium?

According to the USGS, the U.S. currently relies on imports to meet about 25% of its lithium needs. The country is working to expand domestic battery production as most of these batteries currently come from China. Securing critical minerals, including lithium as one of the most important, is part of a federal strategy to protect US production and supply chains.

Lithium is extracted from either hard rock mines, clay mines or old brines.

How come Arkansas has so much lithium?

Arkansas is part of the so-called Smackover Formation, a relic of a 200-million-year-old sea that covered parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. Parts of it have rich oil deposits, but only recently has it been recognized that there are also pockets where lithium is dissolved in highly salty water deep underground.

These lithium deposits lie beneath southern Arkansas and as drilling technologies have advanced, they have now become more accessible. Now the problem is finding the technology to bring the brine to the surface and extract the lithium from it.

A USGS study published last month examined these deposits.

“We estimate there is enough dissolved lithium in this region to replace U.S. lithium imports and more,” Katherine Knierim, USGS hydrologist and principal investigator of the study, said in a statement.

She warned that the estimates do not take into account what will be required to bring the lithium to the surface or extract it from the brines.

What problems are associated with mining lithium?

Lithium is expensive and rare, partly because it is usually difficult to extract. In some areas, extraction is associated with water shortages and other problems.

Farmers in Nevada say lithium mines have drained their wells of underground freshwater aquifers. In February, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said a lithium mining project in California had illegally drained 1,200 acres of fragile wetlands, according to a settlement agreement.

Exxon has already begun studying how it could access the lithium in Arkansas and developing technologies to remove it from the brine. The company drilled its first lithium well there last year and said in a statement that it aims to be a leading lithium supplier by 2030.

What is lithium and why do we need it?

Does the US have enough lithium?

How come Arkansas has so much lithium?

What problems are associated with mining lithium?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply