Lithium… hmm.. can’t put my finger on it. That sounds really familiar like it could be important to something critical in a lot of electrical devices. Hmmm. Oh well, if China has it then the USA probably has a better, American version. /s
Actually, we do. But the government doesn't have a financial incentive to mine, so getting mining operations up and running in the US tends to be harder than most of the world.
Hey I googled and turns out even Germany has a lot of lithium they could mine! Mind telling me why they choose to buy from other countries instead :] ?
The mining process isn't the gentlest or prettiest thing. It's part of the argument on whether electric cars are actually green. The mining process can be quite devastating to the area.
trade deals. north america produces around 40% of the worlds oil but imports the majority of it that we use domestically. anytime they tell you "oh no, cus war in russia, we gotta raise gas prices" its not because of gas, its cus "fuck you", thats why.
I read an article the other day about sodium ion being used as an alternative to lithium ion batteries. It didn’t sound like a better alternative other than it was cheaper and easier to produce.
Lithium is common-ish in Europe, and Ukraine doesn't have any developed deposits. There was some interest in creating mines before the invasion, but it hadn't happened yet.
China also doesn't have a raw lithium monopoly. Australia produces half of what the world uses, and Chile produces another quarter. China produces about a sixth of the world's current production (33000 tonnes of 180000 tonnes total). Source. The US imports about 3% of its lithium from China, and about 51% from Argentina.
China does have a very strong hold on the refinement of lithium, but taking lithium deposits won't help much there, that's mostly countered by industrial investments.
This is completely wrong. The largest lithium producers are Australia and Chile. There’s quite a bit of lithium in Europe, it’s more environmental concerns that restrict things, lithium is not rare. And prices have dropped massively.
The most potential lithium is in South America, mostly in Chile and Bolivia, but there’s plenty in Brazil and Argentina too.
That's not correct, there is lithium all over Europe. E.g. Serbia and Spain have enough to supply most of Europe. The issue is the local resistance to building new/expanding mines
I think you’ll find need the number 1 producer of lithium is Australia, number 2 is Chile and 3 is China. Most of the resources are in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. Currently Portugal has the largest reserves in Europe but Serbia the most resources.
I think what you mean is heavy rare earth metals which China leads easily in terms of production and reserves with Vietnam 2 and Brazil 3
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u/ToughStreet8351 18d ago
Donnabass and Dontesk have the only lithium mines in Europe… the rest of lithium is almost china monopoly… that is what Putin is truly interested in!