USA is striving towards lithium independence with ambitious mining projects

Several countries around the world are investing heavily in lithium extraction to support battery production for electric vehicles (EVs) and utility-scale storage. This has led to tremendous growth in mining projects in lithium hubs such as the Lithium Triangle in South America. It has also encouraged greater exploration in less productive areas as energy companies seek to strengthen their supply chains through domestic lithium production. In the United States, Arkansas is quickly becoming a major lithium hub and additional lithium states are expected to emerge following major exploration activities.

The Biden administration has supported the development of the domestic lithium industry with favorable policies for mining activities that support the green transition, as well as funding from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). This is part of the government’s commitment to ensuring a reliable supply of essential minerals to support the deployment of renewable energy and clean technologies.

In March of this year, the US Department of Energy (DoE) announced Financing of up to $2.26 billionConstruction of the Thacker Pass Lithium Project in Nevada under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program. The mine is expected to come online later this decade and supply General Motors (GM) with lithium. Lithium Americas will extract approximately 40,000 tons of battery-grade lithium carbonate annually from Thacker Pass, which could power up to 800,000 electric vehicles. This will eventually rise to around 80,000 tonnes per year. GM has made additional investments 650 million dollars in the project.

In November last year, Exxon Mobil announced plans to produce lithium in the US starting in 2027. The Company will operate operations in Arkansas using conventional oil and gas drilling methods to access lithium deposits. Exxon works with Tetra Technologies for its lithium business under the brand name Mobil Lithium. American Battery Technology Company, Applied Materials and Cirba Solutions jointly received the award $2.8 billion in DoE funding for 21 new, upgraded and expanded commercial-scale lithium processing and battery recycling facilities.

Albemarle, a major lithium producer, is pursuing lithium production in North Carolina. Earlier this year, the company announced plans to reopen the resource-rich Kings Mountain lithium mine in the state by the end of 2026, backed by 150 million dollars in DoE funding. However, it faced backlash from environmentalists and indigenous groups who wanted to block the development, leading to delays. Albemarle wants to expand its domestic lithium production. The company currently operates the Silver Peak mine in Nevada first lithium producing mine in North America.

Based on recent discoveries, the US could be on the path to lithium independence. In September last year, a group of scientists funded by Lithium Americas Corporation founded reported that the McDermitt Caldera, a volcanic crater on the Nevada-Oregon border, holds between 20 and 40 million tons of lithium deposits, almost twice as much as in Bolivia, which forms part of it Lithium triangle. In December, the Department of Energy announced that it had confirmed another large lithium deposit beneath California’s Salton Sea. It said there were around 3,400 kilotons of lithium, which would be enough for over 375 million electric car batteries. This is well above the 14 million tonnes previously mapped by the US Geological Survey.

Although recent lithium discoveries in the US are significant, the country still has limited capacity to extract, refine and produce domestic lithium. The largest lithium producers in the world are currently Australia, Chile, China, Argentina, Brazil, Zimbabwe, the USA and Portugal. The United States is the only one of these countries to have had such an experience Decline in lithium production in the last decade. It also has the lowest lithium production relative to the size of its reserves of these countries.

However, there are some High hopes for the future of US-produced lithium with Arkansas is developing into an important transshipment point for the critical mineral. Several large companies, including companies such as ExxonMobil, Albemarle and Standard Lithium, have invested in mining operations in Arkansas. Based on recent exploration activities, lithium reserves in the state are of high quality, which should allow for easier extraction.

The USA is investing heavily in the development of direct lithium extraction (DLE) technologies to increase their production potential. DLE technologies can extract up to 90 percent of the lithium in brine, well above traditional pond extraction rates of around 50 percent. You can also extract the mineral in days instead of months, potentially making production much cheaper and faster. However, DLE has not yet been proven to work on a large scale, meaning the US will need to further develop the technology or deploy conventional production techniques on a larger scale to increase its lithium production capacity.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

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