The Salton Sea in California emerges as a prospective site for the world’s most extensive lithium deposit, pivotal for electric vehicle production.
By yourNEWS Media Staff
A recent study has brought to the forefront that the Salton Sea, a minor saline lake in Southern California, might house the largest known lithium deposit globally. This could significantly impact the electric vehicle (EV) industry, potentially providing enough lithium to power over 300 million new EVs.
Long identified as a rich source of lithium brine, the Salton Sea’s southern end holds water that, when boiled, can extract lithium effectively and economically.
This pioneering study, financed by the Department of Energy, executed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researchers, marks the first attempt to measure the lithium reserves in the Salton Sea quantitatively. Their findings suggest a staggering potential of extracting 3,400 kilotons of lithium, sufficient for the battery production of about 375 million EVs.
In the current scenario, the United States has nearly 2.4 million registered EVs, a figure yet to be updated with this year’s new registrations. Given the anticipated surge in the EV market by 2030 and potential lithium shortages as early as 2025, American EV manufacturers are actively looking for local lithium sources.
A press release from the Energy Department accompanying the study claims that the lithium at the Salton Sea could satisfy, or even exceed, the global demand for several decades.
Michael McKibben, a geochemistry professor at the University of California, Riverside, and an author of the study, noted the deposit’s global significance. He remarked that this could lead to U.S. lithium self-sufficiency, curtailing reliance on imports from nations like China.
However, the extraction of lithium from the geothermal brine in the saline lake at a commercial scale remains a daunting task. Several companies are already working on this challenge, backed by substantial investments to develop the necessary technology.
Grants from the California Energy Commission have been awarded to Des Moines-based Berkshire Hathaway Energy and Southern California startup Controlled Thermal Resources to support the development of extraction methods.
Automotive giants General Motors and Stellantis have formed partnerships with Controlled Thermal Resources to secure lithium supplies from the Salton Sea. These collaborations aim to develop environmentally friendly extraction methods, avoiding the ecological damage caused by conventional techniques like open-pit drilling and large evaporation pools.
The significance of this development is highlighted by California Governor Gavin Newsom’s comparison of the state to the “Saudi Arabia of lithium.”