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Virtual lithium mine attaches to geothermal plant

Simbol Materials today started operations at a plant in California that extracts lithium and other battery materials without having to dig new holes in the ground.

The company has developed a way for getting valuable metals from the discharge brine of geothermal plants, a process that could help make the U.S. a much larger producer of lithium and other important metals. Its operation, which it expects to expand next year, is in the Imperial Valley of California.

Rather than drill wells or mine for minerals, Simbol Materials' process separates lithium carbonate, zinc, and manganese from the brine brought up … Read more

Mining lithium from geothermal 'lemonade'

If Simbol Mining's plans work out, within a decade it will deliver one-fourth of the world's increasing demand for lithium, used in batteries of hybrid and electric cars without creating waste or pollution.

The start-up eventually aims to mine more than 100,000 tons of lithium carbonate each year from geothermal sources. That's more than the current annual market for the compound; the company expects demands for it to quintuple by 2013.

Current mining methods won't provide enough for the future need for lithium-ion batteries, according to Meridian International Research.

Geothermal power plants bring silica, lithium, … Read more