Salton Lake in the US state of California has been known as a lithium deposit for years, but there was no exact information on how much lithium it contained. In a recent study, the reserve amount was determined.The hot salt water reserve under the lake bed contains enough lithium for 375 million electric vehicle batteries. Thus, Salton Lake becomes one of the largest lithium brine deposits in the world.
The study, carried out by the US Department of Energy, was aimed at determining how much precious metal there was under the lake. The findings revealed that there was much more lithium than expected. The reserve contains 3,400 kilotons of producible lithium, according to the Lawrence Berkey National Laboratory. This amount means that there is enough lithium reserve for 375 million electric vehicles. There are currently 2.4 million registered electric vehicles in the United States. As electric vehicle sales increase, some predictions claim that we will face a lithium shortage in 2025. However, this scarcity is not expressed in terms of reserves, but rather with the concern that sufficient production will not be possible against demand. There are many lithium resources in the world that have not yet been discovered or whose reserves have not been fully determined. Therefore, lithium reserves are sufficient for a long time.
Companies race to extract lithium
Of course, commercially extracting lithium from geothermal brine is a difficult task, but several companies are currently working on developing this technology and have received some investments. The California Energy Commission awarded a $6 million grant to Berkshire Hathaway Energy and a $1.46 million grant to Controlled Thermal Resources to develop a technique for extracting lithium. GM and Stellantis signed a deal with Controlled Thermal Resources to extract lithium from the lake. Ford also signed an agreement with EnergySource Minerals, which built the first geothermal power plant in the region in 2021.
Rather than creating harmful drilling or huge evaporation ponds to extract the lithium from the bottom of the lake, more environmentally friendly alternatives are being explored. Companies are working on technologies to extract brine and separate lithium directly. While obtaining lithium, they also plan to produce electricity with geothermal energy.
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