The global lithium industry has changed dramatically over the last decade as we continue to see
increases in the electric vehicle and energy storage sectors. The annual consumption is expected
to shoot up by three to four million metric tons in 2030 and therefore, there should be enough
supply to meet the demand, which is expected to grow over 300 percent from 2021 to 2030.
Therefore one of the significant priorities is to identify more opportunities for lithium extraction
to satisfy industries’ demand.
Commercial lithium extraction technology currently relies on two primary sources- salt-flat
brines, and mineral ores. Salt-flat brines are an uncomplicated process, but it takes a lot of
time. Here, firstly the salt-rich water is pumped out into an evaporation pond, where water
slowly evaporates leaving a variety of salts to precipitate out, leaving the pond with lithium
concentration. Moving forward, the slurry of hydrated lime is added to the pond or brine to
remove unwanted elements, majorly magnesium and boron. When lithium concentration fills the
brine, it is pumped to a recovery facility where brine purification, chemical treatments, filtration,
and finally treatment with soda ash are performed to precipitate lithium carbonate. In the
denouement, washing and drying of lithium carbonate are done to finally make it available for
commercial use.
Another process, mineral ore is a significantly more cumbersome and energy intensive process,
where after the ore is mined, crushed, and roasted are at high temperature. Then it is cooled,
miled and roasted again with sulphuric acid. This step replaces hydrogen in sulphuric acid with
lithium, producing lithium sulfate and an insolvent residue.
According to U.S. Geological Survey, and Mineral Commodity, other lithium extraction
methods, such as direct lithium extraction (DLE) from geothermal and oil well brine, are being
researched at the moment for ascending global production. Now the end product of extraction
technology is mostly lithium carbonate however we do have other end products such as lithium
hydroxide, lithium chloride, and all others are mentioned in Exhibit 1.
At the moment, almost all lithium mining takes place in Australia, Latin America, and China.
However, pipelines of manifold projects will bring in new players for the lithium mining map,
including Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, and other Commonwealth of Independent States
Members. Additional lithium sources are expected to come from early-stage conventional brine
projects to bridge the supply gap. In the meantime, new technologies like DLE and Direct
Lithium to Product are expected to improve recovery and capacity and the use of direct shipping
ore (DSO) could help mitigate short-term supply risk.
Promising DLE technology is currently being considered not only by unconventional players but
also by traditional players too. The major benefits it provides are to eliminate the footprint of
environmental ponds, decrease production times, and lower reagent and water usage. For a
breakdown on global lithium reserves, refer to Exhibit 2.