Lithium: An energy source in the desert

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Nothing grows in Chile's Salar de Atacama desert. It's the driest place on the planet, and one of the most remote. But to Tim McKenna, what's underground is paradise. He calls it, "the best place on earth."

McKenna's company produces lithium, the world's lightest metal. And lithium powers the batteries in the cell phones, BlackBerrys, and laptops that in turn power the world.

In Chile, the extraction process comes naturally: melting snow from the Andes Mountains runs into underground pools of salt water--or brine. That brine's pumped out. In a network of ponds, the desert sun evaporates out other salts, leaving lithium brine.

McKenna says, "the sun basically does all the work."

The brine's processed into white powder, lithium carbonate--a growing part of the world's energy future. Two companies, one American, one Chilean, produce half of the world's lithium in the salt basin in Chile.

As a source for battery power, demand for lithium is about to soar. This fall, Mercedes will sell the first lithium powered plug-in car. At least six more carmakers plan their own models. Chevy's new Volt is expected to get 230 mpg off of just one charge.

In your cell phone or BlackBerry battery, the lithium weighs one-tenth of an ounce. In a plug-in car, the battery's lithium weighs 20 pounds. In 10 years, lithium's price per pound has tripled to around $3, with only three major companies dominating the world's market in a half-dozen countries.

Chile, the largest supplier, has been called the "Saudi Arabia of lithium."

Energy analyst Ben Johnson said, "it looks very similar to an OPEC-style cartel. It's highly concentrated. The various producers are very secretive about their expansion plans and about their pricing movements."

Lithium producers deny that. Consumers will wait and see. But there's no denying, in the world's evolving energy science, lithium means power.

This story was written by Mark Strassman and originally posted at CBSNews.com.

[memoretti]

I believe Bolivia is, in fact, the world's Saudi Arabia of lithium, although it's not being mined yet. It's estimated that Bolivia has nearly double the reserves that Chile has, or half the world's reserves. It remains to be seen whether Bolivia will have the same success with lithium they've had with tin or silver.

[martin1212]

Yes, Bolivia is the really interesting potential source, with about half the world's total reserves.

[Pishkado]

Technical correction: mpg is a rate, not an amount. "230 mpg off one charge" for the Chevy Volt makes no sense. If it gets 230 mpg, as GM has claimed based on the most optimistic calculation they could make with a straight face, it gets that rate on one charge, ten charges or a hundred charges - until the battery wears out. If we're talking about a single charge, we have to talk miles, not mileage. (I think the figure is 40 miles on a charge. Not nearly as impressive as 230 would be.)

[krosafcheg]

This is the part where neocon radicals fabricate Chilean ties to Al Qaeda in order to stage a false invasion to steal the resource.

[medlinsw]

Interesting article, but the headline shows a lack of science knowledge. Lithium can be used to store energy, but it is NOT an energy source.

[dfsmith]

It certainly is an energy source when used as an additive in a hydrogen fusion bomb. (!)

[stubbyns]

The 'report' thinks Tibet is an independent country.

[bosunj]

Look for Chile to have 'internal' political problems very soon. Duhmerica's CIA will be fermenting discord, a coup and the installation of a puppet gov't that does what Duhmerica orders it to do.

[jmmolina]

well, as a chilean i can say that is common to see big european or north american companies taking the mining business, reporting finance issues every year and avoiding to pay big taxes...some chileans get rich with the agreement and the rest stay poor.

and better not talk about the enviromental damage caused by this industries...

[disco-legend-zeke]

SouthEastern Arizona and SW New Mexico have several high volume wells, mostly hot water, and generally unsuitable for agriculture, although some are used for greenhouse heating.

The problem is that the water is too salty for drinking or growing plants.

It seems, however, that one of the "pollutant" salts is lithium chloride, and some solar distallation projects are re being talked about.

This type of project is doubly valuable because the area is very short of potable water, making otherwise beautiful areas unsuitable for home building. Add running water and a $50 an acre desert wasteland becomes a $200,000 an acre housing development site.

Hopefully the notching up of prices will spur this type of project.

[GRobLewis]

Um, "hopefully"? ("Hopefully the notching up of prices will spur this type of project.")

Do you own lots of desert land in Arizona, or something? Why should anybody "hope" that we can expand suburban sprawl into areas that are presently inhospitable to it?

Personally, I hope that, as James Howard Kunstler says, the build-out of suburbia in this country is about over. It's long past time to switch to patterns of development that are sustainable in a post-oil era. (And no, lithium by itself cannot replace cheap gasoline.)