Anthony King An estimated 20 to 40 million tonnes of lithium metal lie within a volcanic crater formed around 16 million years ago. This is notably larger than the lithium deposits found beneath a...
Anthony King
An estimated 20 to 40 million tonnes of lithium metal lie within a volcanic crater formed around 16 million years ago. This is notably larger than the lithium deposits found beneath a Bolivian salt flat, previously considered the largest deposit in the world.
Some unusual conditions created what could be a uniquely rich volcanic deposit. The crater – the McDermitt caldera – formed 16.4 million years ago when around 1000km3 of magma exploded outwards. The caldera was filled with erupted products of an alkaline magma rich in sodium and potassium, as well as lithium, chlorine and boron. This quickly cooled to form a finely crystalline glassy volcanic rock, ignimbrite, which weathered to produce lithium-rich particles.
A lake subsequently formed in the crater, persisting for hundreds of thousands of years, with weathered volcanic and surrounding materials forming a clay-rich sediment at its bottom. The new analysis suggested that, after the lake had emptied, another bout of volcanism exposed the sediments to a hot, alkaline brine, rich in lithium and potassium.
The material could be best described as looking ‘a bit like brown potter’s clay’, says Christopher Henry, emeritus professor of geology at the University of Nevada in Reno. ‘It is extremely uninteresting, except that it has so much lithium in it.’
Benson views the lithium-rich claystone at Thacker Pass as ‘unique’ amongst volcanic sedimentary deposits. It is composed of the mineral illite containing 1.3% to 2.4% of lithium in the volcanic crater. This is almost double the lithium present in the main lithium-bearing clay mineral, magnesium smectite, which is more common than illite.
‘If they can extract the lithium in a very low energy intensive way, or in a process that does not consume much acid, then this can be economically very significant,’ says Borst. ‘The US would have its own supply of lithium and industries would be less scared about supply shortages.’
Article: Benson, Coble and Dilles - Hydrothermal enrichment of lithium in intracaldera illite-bearing claystones
For those who wondered what Bolivia had in those salt flats. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/25/bolivia-lithium-mining-salt-flats So maybe more, but a similar order of magnitude. I...
An estimated 20 to 40 million tonnes of lithium metal lie within a volcanic crater formed around 16 million years ago. This is notably larger than the lithium deposits found beneath a Bolivian salt flat, previously considered the largest deposit in the world.
For those who wondered what Bolivia had in those salt flats.
Anthony King
An estimated 20 to 40 million tonnes of lithium metal lie within a volcanic crater formed around 16 million years ago. This is notably larger than the lithium deposits found beneath a Bolivian salt flat, previously considered the largest deposit in the world.
The material could be best described as looking ‘a bit like brown potter’s clay’, says Christopher Henry, emeritus professor of geology at the University of Nevada in Reno. ‘It is extremely uninteresting, except that it has so much lithium in it.’
Article:
Benson, Coble and Dilles - Hydrothermal enrichment of lithium in intracaldera illite-bearing claystones
For those who wondered what Bolivia had in those salt flats.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/25/bolivia-lithium-mining-salt-flats
So maybe more, but a similar order of magnitude. I wasn’t sure if this was a vast increase in the world supply or not.