Lithium Trends

LITHIUM
  • There needs to be substantial increase in the Lithium supply chain to meet the demand of electric cars projected to come online starting in 2025.
  • The current process for extracting lithium from brines requires large evaporation ponds that are expensive to build and operate as well as environmentally damaging, the process time can be lengthy, and uses up to 500k gallons of water/ton of lithium. This process suffers from low lithium recovery, requires between 12 months to 2 years to produce lithium carbonate and requires heating at high elevations.  This is causing Lithium Producers to look for new extraction methods.
  • Goldman Sachs, on April 27, 2023 reports “Direct Lithium Etraction (DLE) can increase lithium recoveries to 70-90% from 40-60% from traditional evaporation ponds and DLE has the potential to significantly impact the lithium industry, with the implementation of on the extraction of lithium from a brine will potentially revolutionize production capacity, timing, and environmental impact with faster permitting.”
  • The market for batteries is forecast to grow from $ 12 billion USD in 2021 to 420 billion USD by 2030. (Statistica, September 07, 2023, Timothy Owens)
  • $514 billion USD required across the battery supply chain to meet future demand. (Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, June 26, 2023)
  • In January 2023, General Motors announced it is making an equity investment of $650 million USD to continue the development of Lithium Americas’s Thacker Pass project.
  • 30% of all vehicles sold globally are forecast to be EV in 2030 (April 26, 2023, International Energy Agency IEA)
  • On June 05, 2023, the US Department of Energy announced $192 million for research in recycling lithium batteries.
  • Lithium producers warn global supply may not meet EV demand. (Automotive News, June 23, 2023)
  • Lithium market to grow to $90 billion in 2023 with a 22% Compound Annual Growth Rate. (Fortune Business Insights, June 09, 2022)

Why is the lithium carbonation technology green

LITHIUM
  • The carbon dioxide is sequestered in many formations underground including coal, oil and gas formations;
  • The lithium carbonation process also consumes carbon dioxide;
  • Production of lithium from underground has a nominal carbon footprint; and
  • The direct lithium separation technologies do not use evaporation ponds that would produce significant carbon dioxide.