Lithium is everywhere: It’s in the battery powering the device on which you’re reading this article. It powers electric vehicles (EVs). It’s in your headphones, your power tools, and your TV remote. In short, lithium powers modern life.
The ubiquity of the element is why the United States Geological Survey (USGS) deemed it a critical mineral in November. While the U.S. remains highly reliant on imports of lithium, a new report from the USGS found an estimated 2.3 million metric tons of the lithium oxide in Appalachia, enough to replace 328 years’ worth of U.S. imports at last years’ level.
“This research shows that the Appalachians contain enough lithium to help meet the nation’s growing needs, USGS director Ned Mamula said in a statement, “a major contribution to U.S. mineral security, at a time when global lithium demand is rising rapidly.”
Out of the 2.3 million metric tons of lithium oxide that USGS estimates may be economically recoverable from Appalachian pegmatites—large-grained rocks similar to granite—about 1.43 million metric tons are estimated to be locked in the southern Appalachians, concentrated in the Carolinas. About another 900,000 metric tons are under the forests of rural western Maine and New Hampshire.
The scale of lithium in the U.S. is massive. USGS estimates it’s enough to power 130 million EVs, or enough for more than one-third of the U.S. population to own one. It’s enough for three billion tablets and laptops, 500 billion cell phones, or 1.6 million electric grid batteries.
Nevada hosts the most projects, as well as the only operating lithium mine in the country, in Silver Peak, Nev.
Still, the USGS said the recent discovery offers a lifeline to the U.S. to stake a claim amid the skyrocketing global lithium demand. “This research highlights the abundant potential to reclaim our mineral independence,” Mamula said.
