- Lithium in a Smackover Formation might present 9 instances the worldwide demand for EV batteries
- The lithium deposits might be the important thing to U.S. battery manufacturing
- Lithium mining was in depth in North Carolina till the Nineteen Eighties
A lithium deposit positioned in southwestern Arkansas might maintain sufficient of the steel to fulfill international EV battery demand 9 instances over, in response to a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)-led examine.
The examine, primarily based on water testing and machine-learning evaluation, estimates between 5 million and 19 million tons of lithium within the Smackover Formation. Even the low-end estimate is equal to greater than 9 instances the worldwide demand for lithium use in EV batteries in 2030, as at present estimated by the Worldwide Power Company (IEA), the USGS notes.
Smackover Formation recognized as a possible U.S. lithium supply (through USGS)
Additionally extending beneath components of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, the Smackover Formation is a remnant of an historical sea that dates from the Jurassic interval. It is recognized for wealthy deposits of oil and bromine, however the USGS believes lithium could be commercially extracted from the brine (excessive salinity water) delivered to the floor throughout oil and gasoline extraction operations.
The U.S. at present imports greater than 25% of its lithium, in response to the USGS. Regardless of having one of many largest provides of lithium, U.S. manufacturing faltered within the Nineties as a consequence of value points. Greater than 80% of worldwide lithium is sourced from Australia, Chile, and China, with the latter nation controlling greater than half of the world’s lithium processing and refining capability, in response to a 2022 CNBC report.
BMW cylindrical battery cells
However the USGS estimates that there’s sufficient lithium delivered to the floor in oil-production brine waste streams in Arkansas to cowl present estimated U.S. lithium demand. That will assist obtain the Biden administration’s objective of constructing a home EV provide chain. The administration has already turned to the Protection Manufacturing Act to ramp up availability of lithium and different battery supplies, and added raw-material sourcing necessities to the federal EV tax credit score, in assist of these objective.
Efforts have additionally been made to restart lithium manufacturing in areas the place it as soon as thrived. In 2019, a mining firm sought permits for a new lithium mine close to Charlotte, North Carolina. Lithium was mined extensively within the North Carolina foothills till the Nineteen Eighties.
