Colossal Cache of Lithium Found in US May Be World's Largest

[william]

n the race to hoard lithium, a metal crucial for creating the batteries that power electric vehicles, the US may have fortuitously stumbled on the world's biggest deposit yet.

A new study, published in the journal Science Advances, estimates that the McDermitt Caldera, a volcanic crater on the Nevada-Oregon border, harbors a colossal 20 to 40 million metric tons of lithium.

Based on these newest figures, the caldera dwarfs the amount of lithium in even Bolivia's salt flats, home to around 23 million tons.

"If you believe their back-of-the-envelope estimation, this is a very, very significant deposit of lithium," Anouk Borst, a geologist at KU Leuven University who was not involved in the study, told Chemistry World. "It could change the dynamics of lithium globally, in terms of price, security of supply and geopolitics."

MSN

 

[Gargolu]

n the race to hoard lithium, a metal crucial for creating the batteries that power electric vehicles, the US may have fortuitously stumbled on the world's biggest deposit yet.

A new study, published in the journal Science Advances, estimates that the McDermitt Caldera, a volcanic crater on the Nevada-Oregon border, harbors a colossal 20 to 40 million metric tons of lithium.

Based on these newest figures, the caldera dwarfs the amount of lithium in even Bolivia's salt flats, home to around 23 million tons.

"If you believe their back-of-the-envelope estimation, this is a very, very significant deposit of lithium," Anouk Borst, a geologist at KU Leuven University who was not involved in the study, told Chemistry World. "It could change the dynamics of lithium globally, in terms of price, security of supply and geopolitics."

MSN

well ya they were talking about this since 2022. but the native americans are fighting the mining operations apparently, but yea its a massive deposit that has been untouched as of yet.

 

[Friendly Engineer]

Well boys, add another few billion onto the US GDP. Not that much of it will find its way into treasury coffers.

 

[teekay99]

Well boys, add another few billion onto the US GDP. Not that much of it will find its way into treasury coffers.

That all assumes mining this lithium is not derailed by lawsuits to protect some endangered five-leaved clover flower or triple-horned spotted toad snake.

 

[Totality 🇺🇦 🇮🇱]

That all assumes mining this lithium is not derailed by lawsuits to protect some endangered five-leaved clover flower or triple-horned spotted toad snake.

If something is truly important enough for national security the environment always gets a back seat. Sadly. I'm sure in coming years/decades will be a big rush to create a supply chain for deposit materials and start mining Lithium out of the ground in large quantities.

 

[teekay99]

If something is truly important enough for national security the environment always gets a back seat. Sadly.

True.
I am biased though. Having lived in Nevada for 18 years, I found it to be a desert wasteland, and I hated living there. I can't think of a better place for testing nuclear weapons, disposing nuclear waste (Yucca Mountain), storing the country's garbage, and wide-spread strip mining.

Hyperbole alert - Nothing significant lives there anyways.... (at least in the desert valleys).

 

[Dr Arthur]

True.
I am biased though. Having lived in Nevada for 18 years, I found it to be a desert wasteland, and I hated living there. I can't think of a better place for testing nuclear weapons, disposing nuclear waste (Yucca Mountain), storing the country's garbage, and wide-spread strip mining.

Hyperbole alert - Nothing significant lives there anyways.... (at least in the desert valleys).

And maybe a lot of human garbage but there is always Vegas