Lil4X

Simbol Materials, a California minerals company is studying the feasibility of recovering mineral lithium from the Salton Sea and the brine brought up by geothermal plants in the region. It seems the US imports 43% of its lithium used in batteries from China, Australia, and Chile. The demand for lithium is expected to escalate rapidly as more electric vehicles are produced, and if Simbol Materials' plans to recover "waste" lithium brought up in geothermal power plants and deposits in the Salton Sea, the US could halve that number in the next eight years.

Ford and GM acknowledge the fact that ALL vehicles will be powered by electricity before the end of the century. This move to gain domestic sources of raw materials could reduce our dependence on foreign sources by recovering valuable minerals, not just lithium from geothermal wells drilled to produce superheated water for power generation. These "geothermal salts" are present in some geothermal operations, but not all - it remains to be seen how they can be extracted in a responsible manner and produced economically.

spwolf

"before end of the century"

heh.. who the heck knows what will happen by 2099... we might be assimilated by then.