New Exploration Techniques Will Fuel Search For Lithium
Industrial mineral by Harold Hough 

            Lithium is the metal of the new electrical age thanks to all its applications.  Lithium batteries have a high energy to weight ratio, which makes them attractive for many uses.  Although more costly, they have longer lives, which make the attractive for medical implants, cameras, and computers.  Another lithium product used in high technology electronics is lithium niobate, which is used extensively in telecommunication products like cell phones for such components as resonant crystals.  As a result, consumption of lithium compounds and chemicals, such as lithium carbonate, increased by 22% per year from 2000 to 2008.  But the question is if lithium mining can keep up with demand?
            Unfortunately, this domestic demand for lithium isn’t matched by domestic mining.  South America accounted for 60% of world output of lithium in 2008, followed by Australia and China which combined produced 30% of the total.  Two-thirds of the world production was from brines and one-third from the mining of lithium minerals.  Ironically, the industry was once dominated by two major U.S. pegmatite hard rock producers, until a third producer from Chile started production in the 1980s.
            The growing demand for lithium has spurred exploration in the US, especially in the Southwest.  But, lithium isn’t as easy to find as some other minerals.  That’s why another method for exploration is being used by Perry Remote Sensing of Englewood Colorado – satellite imagery.  “The best geophysical indicator for lithium is groundwater,” said Sandy Perry.  She explains that since lithium is leached from certain volcanic rocks, when the surface or groundwater flows into closed basins, the lithium becomes more concentrated.
            These salars are ideal lithium sources and many junior resource companies are looking at their potential.  “The salar setting is much easier to mine and explore,” notes Perry.  The lithium is recovered after the brine is concentrated by solar evaporation, and the alkalines are removed by precipitation. Lithium carbonate is then removed by adding sodium carbonate.  Evaporative brine mining has less environmental impact and very little carbon footprint.  It is also much more commpetative since a ton of lithium from the evaporative method costs $1,500 - $2,300 versus $4,200 - $4,500 from traditional methods.
            The problem is finding the lithium in these massive salars.  “These things are huge and it takes a long time to get across,” Perry notes.  They make traditional exploration methods to time consuming. 
            Perry is using remote sensing data from LANDSAT and ASTER to find likely lithium deposits.  Since lithium is associated with groundwater, Perry uses remote sensing data to faults and fractures in the geoloogy.  As she explains it, these faults have cooler temperatures than the surrounding ground due to higher fluid and vapor flows from groundwater. 
            Perry is also using the spectral signature of lithium compounds to find these deposits in salars.  Some of her work is in South America.  However, there is a lot of potential in the United States.  According to a report that came out in 2009, the United States ranks seventh in proven, extractable lithium reserves.  Chile ranks first, with 3,000,000 metric tons of extractable lithium.  However, as exploration companies continue to scour the Southwestern United States for lithium that reserve figure is expected to increase dramatically.
            Ironically, these junior resource companies are finding interested investors in the automotive industry.  Lithium is seen as the preferable technology in rechargeable batteries for hybrid cars.  The lithium-ion battery offers higher energy density and can be made into many different shapes, which makes it easier to fit into an electrical device.  They also don’t have the “memory effect” that makes other rechargeable batteries less attractive.  With the growing demand for hybrid cars, the demand for lithium in rechargeable batteries is expected to explode and the auto manufacturers are anxious to secure their supplies.  With satellite sensing, maybe they will be able to find them.