The amount of lithium floating in ancient sea relics beneath southern Arkansas could be equivalent to nine times the projected global demand for the car battery element in 2030.
A joint federal and state research team is using machine learning to predict and map lithium concentrations in brine deep within the porous limestone aquifer beneath southern Arkansas known as the Smackover Formation brine. I trained the model.
The model was trained on existing and new brine lithium data from the region, taking into account known variations in geology, geochemistry, and temperature.
The results suggest the presence of 5.1 million to 19 million tons of lithium in the brine, which could represent 35 to 136 percent of the current estimated lithium resources in the United States.
This map of the United States shows an inset area displaying highlighted areas of the smackover layer and sampling area. The sampling area is located in lower Arkansas (highlighted with a red stripe). (USGS/Public Domain)
And that could reduce dependence on lithium imports, something U.S. Department of Energy officials are eyeing.
The study also shows that in 2022, the brine brought to the surface by the oil, gas and bromine industries contained 5,000 tonnes of dissolved lithium. This resource is becoming increasingly important as we move away from fossil fuel-based internal combustion engines. For battery-powered electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles.
Lithium is the material of choice for electric vehicle batteries, and its demand is rapidly increasing. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), electric vehicle batteries accounted for about 85% of total lithium demand in 2023, up 30% from 2022.
“Mining and refining will need to continue to grow rapidly to meet future demand,” the IEA reports.
Demand for electric vehicle batteries is increasing in all regions around the world. (International Energy Agency, 2024)
But any mention of new mining or groundwater extraction can, and perhaps should, raise some eyebrows.
Other forms of lithium mining include strip mines, which destroy anything above ground along with the depths, and evaporation ponds. Evaporation ponds produce only small amounts of lithium at the expense of large amounts of water and toxic dust clouds.
Meanwhile, the bromine industry in southern Arkansas already uses a process that pumps brine from an aquifer, extracts the bromine, and pumps the resulting wastewater back.
Lithium could potentially just be an additional mineral recovered in the process, researchers say, meaning lithium resources have not yet been depleted by existing mining. I think so.
However, this process does not guarantee zero environmental impact. Rather, it is something less known and important. And many companies are lining up to drill new wells.
Patrick Donnelly, conservation biologist and Great Basin director at the Center for Biological Diversity, told Ozarks at Large’s Jack Travis:
“We support electric vehicles and battery storage as part of the transition away from fossil fuels… (but) we are actively looking for places in the U.S. to produce lithium that does not negatively impact local communities and the environment. is” . ”
“There’s no such thing as a free lunch. And then there’s the impact of[direct lithium extraction],” he says.
There’s no doubt this is a difficult balance to strike, but this new study could help get it right.
“Lithium is a critical mineral for the energy transition, and the potential for increased U.S. production to replace imports has implications for jobs, manufacturing and supply chain resiliency,” said David Applegate of the U.S. Geological Survey. the director says.
“This research shows the value of science in addressing economically important questions.”
The study was published in Science Advances.
