“The U.S. just found a lithium goldmine—40 million tons under the McDermitt Caldera. As global demand for lithium-ion batteries surges, the $2 billion Thacker Pass project could challenge China’s dominance and mark a shift toward domestic energy independence,” says Oilprice.com.
The Thacker Pass project, set to begin operations in 2026, is expected to produce 40,000 metric tons of lithium annually, reducing America’s dependence on China for this mineral:
A massive new lithium discovery on the border between Oregan and Nevada could supercharge the country’s white-gold rush. It is estimated that the newly discovered reserves under the ancient McDermitt Caldera holds a whopping 40 million metric tons of lithium. The scale of this deposit is extraordinary, “dwarfing other reserves worldwide.”….
These discoveries could prove to be a critical competitive edge for the United States, which has been struggling to diversify its lithium supply chains away from China in recent years. China alone refines 60% of the world’s lithium, and as trade tensions ramp up between Washington and Beijing based on Donald Trump’s campaign trail promises, developing a domestic lithium industry is more critical than ever before. The timing could not be more ideal, and the scale of the McDermitt deposits could indeed be a launch pad for a “new chapter in energy independence” for the United States.
Lithium is a “critical mineral” for the green energy revolution, and is increasingly important for the tech sector in general due to its central role in rechargeable batteries. In recent years, demand for lithium-ion batteries has skyrocketed as the tech sector expands…The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) estimates tat lithium demand for battery-making alone will increase ten-fold between 2020 and 2030….a 2023 report from Popular Mechanics calculated that “an electrified economy in 2030 will likely need anywhere from 250,000 to 450,000 tonnes of lithium.
Right now, there is only one operational lithium plant in all of America – the Silver Peak facility in Nevada.
But the Thacker Pass project — backed by General Motors – expects to start producing lithium by 2026. Its initial target is to produce 40,000 tons of lithium per year.
The project will use a newly developed process to extract lithium from the clay deposit containing it. Traditionally, lithium is mined by either hard rock mining or brine mining. Thacker Pass mine will use hydraulic shovels to remove the clay and turn it into a slurry. The lithium-bearing clay slurry will be mixed with sulfuric acid to extract the metal. After the slurry is reacted with sulfuric acid, it will be pressed through filters which separate the elemental lithium solution, and then processed into lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide for batteries.
A huge supply of lithium has also been found in Pennsylvania. But as law professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds notes, that lithium probably won’t be tapped for many years, because “the Chinese government will now rush to fund ‘activist’ groups that will tie its extraction up in environmental challenges.”
As Science Alert notes, “Expanding America’s lithium industry” is “highly controversial, as mining can destroy natural environments, leach toxic chemicals, and intrude on sacred Indigenous land.”
