Lithium

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Lithium is one of the lightest alkali metals and highly reactive elements. Its name is derived from Greek word “lithos”, which means stone. It is extracted from two main sources i.e., ore mining and salt deserts. Australia is the main source of ore mined lithium, while Chile and Argentina are well known for salt deserts or salaras.

The majority of the world’s lithium is extracted from brine sources, which are found below lakes of high-altitude salt flats. The extraction of lithium involves drilling a hole and pumping brine to the surface with the help of water. The mixture is then left for many months for evaporation. The mixture is then distilled to extract lithium after 12 to 18 months.

The lithium demand has hit record levels in the past few years, and the two key contributors to this rise in demand are:

· An uptrend in digital technology coupled with smart technologies, which are integrated with lithium-ion batteries (LIBs).

· A surge in green energy usage and electric vehicles’ usage.

Lithium mining is often criticised for using excessive water and creating drought-like situations in various parts of the world.

Lithium and its compounds are predominantly extracted from hard rock sources and brine deposits. Historically, hard rock sources were mined but since the 1990s, brine deposits have been used to produce lithium on a commercial scale. Most of the existing lithium supply comes from hard rock mineral, spodumene, which is found in Australia and the United States, or is being extracted from brine solutions from salars in South America.

Lithium concentration in brine solutions is increased by solar evaporation in ponds. The evaporation process is a time-consuming one and could take up to one-and-a-half years to concentrate the solution to 6% Li content. Thereafter, the brine solution is used to produce high-value lithium compounds, including lithium chloride, lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide.

With disruptions in the cobalt supply chain, automobile makers are switching to low-cobalt battery chemistries. Low-cobalt cathodes for lithium batteries are anticipated to utilise lithium hydroxide instead of lithium carbonate as a feedstock. Seawater contains over 0.2 parts per million lithium. Some scientists have proposed electrolysis to recover lithium compounds from seawater, but it is not yet commercially viable.

	Code	Company	Price	Chg	%Chg	High	Low	Volume	Market Cap
Basic Materials	A8G	A8G Australasian Metals Ltd	0.090	0.005	5.263	0.090	0.090	9,369	5.500 M
Basic Materials	ADV	ADV Ardiden Ltd	0.340	0.01	2.857	0.370	0.340	118,577	74.143 M
Basic Materials	AGY	AGY Argosy Minerals Ltd	0.044	0.002	4.348	0.046	0.042	15,899,219	72.541 M
Basic Materials	AMD	AMD Arrow Minerals Ltd	0.003	0	0.00	0.003	0.003	7,803,314	6.529 M
Basic Materials	ASN	ASN Anson Resources Ltd	0.045	0.003	7.143	0.045	0.041	4,876,898	71.259 M
Basic Materials	AVL	AVL Australian Vanadium Ltd	0.150	0.01	6.25	0.160	0.147	1,056,329	54.466 M
Basic Materials	BMG	BMG BMG Resources Ltd	--	--	0.00	--	--	--	44.139 M
Basic Materials	BNZ	BNZ BENZ Mining Corp	2.600	0.03	1.141	2.680	2.490	2,685,749	834.643 M
Basic Materials	BOA	BOA BOA Resources Ltd	0.069	0.001	1.471	0.071	0.068	975,553	15.984 M
Basic Materials	CUL	CUL Cullen Resources Ltd	0.006	0	0.00	0.006	0.005	1,451,259	4.160 M
Basic Materials	CXO	CXO Core Lithium Ltd	0.250	0.005	2.041	0.255	0.230	34,782,566	890.120 M
Basic Materials	DEV	DEV DEVEX Resources Ltd	0.250	0.005	2.041	0.250	0.240	863,759	170.419 M
Basic Materials	DTM	DTM Dart Mining NL	0.013	0	0.00	0.013	0.012	2,451,333	3.408 M
Basic Materials	EMH	EMH European Metals Holdings Ltd	0.260	0	0.00	0.265	0.260	5,758	66.519 M
Basic Materials	EUR	EUR European Lithium Ltd	0.420	0.02	5	0.425	0.415	3,348,093	681.443 M
Basic Materials	GL1	GL1 Global Lithium Resources Ltd	0.410	0.01	2.381	0.410	0.390	706,982	119.025 M
Basic Materials	GLN	GLN Galan Lithium Ltd	0.365	0.01	2.817	0.370	0.340	3,858,896	444.321 M
Basic Materials	HWK	HWK Hawk Resources Ltd	0.028	0.001	3.704	0.028	0.026	1,709,335	16.860 M
Basic Materials	INF	INF Infinity Lithium Corporation Ltd	0.007	0.001	12.5	0.008	0.007	2,975,562	4.315 M
Basic Materials	INR	INR Ioneer Ltd	0.150	0.005	3.448	0.150	0.140	9,168,433	430.449 M
Basic Materials	KOR	KOR Korab Resources Ltd	0.008	0	0.00	0.008	0.008	--	2.936 M
Basic Materials	KTA	KTA Krakatoa Resources Ltd	0.004	0	0.00	0.004	0.004	1,097,450	4.849 M
Industrials	LIS	LIS Li-S Energy Ltd	0.125	0	0.00	0.125	0.125	402,315	76.824 M
Industrials	LIT	LIT Livium Ltd	0.008	0	0.00	0.008	0.008	420,363	16.513 M
Basic Materials	LKE	LKE Lake Resources N.L.	0.043	0.001	2.273	0.044	0.042	18,028,085	108.384 M
Basic Materials	LTR	LTR Liontown Resources Ltd	1.685	0.025	1.506	1.730	1.540	43,006,389	5,611.131 M
Basic Materials	MIN	MIN Mineral Resources Ltd	62.070	0.08	0.129	62.970	59.210	1,949,258	12,676.104 M
Basic Materials	MLS	MLS Metals Australia Ltd	0.020	0	0.00	0.023	0.020	964,317	15.366 M
Basic Materials	MQR	MQR Marquee Resources Ltd	0.005	0	0.00	0.005	0.004	10,628,633	4.906 M
Industrials	NMT	NMT Neometals Ltd	0.017	0.001	5.556	0.019	0.014	13,951,695	17.690 M
Basic Materials	NVA	NVA Nova Minerals Ltd	0.530	0.01	1.852	0.560	0.530	972,724	23.946 M
Basic Materials	PLS	PLS Pilbara Minerals Ltd	5.020	0.06	1.181	5.150	4.800	32,953,764	17,328.978 M
Basic Materials	PNN	PNN Power Minerals Ltd	0.125	0.01	8.696	0.125	0.115	2,262,528	45.798 M
Basic Materials	PSC	PSC Prospect Resources Ltd	0.280	0.005	1.754	0.285	0.280	457,724	244.207 M
Basic Materials	RIO	RIO RIO Tinto Ltd	172.510	1.59	0.913	174.000	171.200	1,301,998	276,440.089 M
Basic Materials	RLC	RLC Reedy Lagoon Corporation Ltd	0.002	0	0.00	0.002	0.002	1,874,555	1.553 M
Basic Materials	SRK	SRK Strike Resources Ltd	0.027	0	0.00	0.029	0.027	577,123	6.526 M
Basic Materials	TAR	TAR Taruga Minerals Ltd	0.021	0.001	5	0.021	0.020	479,440	18.573 M
Basic Materials	TEM	TEM Tempest Minerals Ltd	0.004	0.001	20	0.004	0.004	294,705	5.509 M
Basic Materials	VMC	VMC Venus Metals Corporation Ltd	0.280	0.005	1.818	0.280	0.275	102,004	55.489 M
Basic Materials	VUL	VUL Vulcan Energy Resources Limited	3.050	0.04	1.329	3.080	2.950	2,136,357	1,493.421 M
Basic Materials	ZNC	ZNC Zenith Minerals Ltd	0.095	0.001	1.042	0.099	0.095	527,576	60.704 M

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the major applications of Lithium and where is it sourced from?

Most prominently, lithium is used to manufacture rechargeable batteries for mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras and electric vehicles. Additionally, it is used in ceramics, glasses, alloys, lubrication and medicine.

The top three lithium-producing nations are Australia, Chile and China. Collectively, these three countries accounted for over 86% of the global lithium production in 2020 with Australia accounting for over half of the global lithium supply.With the burgeoning demand for electric vehicles, lithium’s demand is expected to grow rapidly in this decade.

2. Which are the nations with the largest lithium reserves in the world?

The lithium price continues to grow as the demand for EVs exceeds supply due to material and refinery bottlenecks. However, lithium is not a scarce mineral. It is the 33rd most widely available element on the earth and is spread across in trace amounts in seawater, soils, rocks, surface and groundwater.

China, Chile, and Australia hold the world’s largest reserves. Almost 63% of the global reserves are found within the lithium triangle, a region shared by Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile. Furthermore, Central and Latin American countries such as Mexico and Peru hold more than three million tonnes of lithium in reserves.

3. How much lithium does the world use?

The global market for alkali metal-lithium is growing rapidly. The period between 2008 and 2018 alone saw annual production in the major producing countries rise multifold. Lithium’s usage in EV batteries has been an important source of demand growth. Lithium is also used in laptop and cell phone batteries, as well as in the glass and ceramics industry

4. Where does Australia stand on the global lithium map?

Lithium occurs in predominantly two categories, hard rock sources, specially spodumene (Li2O.Al2O3.4SiO2), and salts, consisting of lithium-rich brines. Australia is among the leading producer of lithium from hard rock sources, while lithium in brines is produced in Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, China and the US.

Lithium’s supply from Australia is sourced from its current resources and mines that mostly produce spodumene along with other lithium-based minerals such as lepidolite. These minerals usually have an average grade of 1% to 3% Li2O and are associated with tin and tantalum mineralisation.

Almost all of the Australian resources are linked to granite pegmatites of the Archean age with major lithium deposits located within the Yilgarn Craton and Pilbara region of Western Australia. Currently, the lithium global output is estimated to rise to 944,000 tonnes by 2024. The rapid growth will be met by increased output from Australia, Chile and Argentina. The current mining and brine supply is insufficient to meet the burgeoning demand for lithium.