The future of cars is electric: We need to start in investing in sustainable lithium

What are the issues with lithium extraction?

Mining the source spodumene for lithium is an intensive process requiring heavy machinery, toxic chemicals, and large amounts of water. This process has a direct effect on the local environment as it requires earth removal and the creation of tailing dams for contaminated water.

And even worse, as illustrated by the failures of the Ganzizhou Rongda Lithium mine in Tibet, the cost of an on-site failure can wreak havoc on local ecology. The risks associated with ore mining played a role in the Serbian government revoking Rio Tinto’s lithium mine permit in January, following protests around the country.

The second lithium extraction method, brine extraction, is less geologically intensive but typically requires even larger amounts of water to pump lithium brine from below ground up to the surface, where they are contained in New York city-sized ponds, using chemicals to facilitate the evaporation of water and collection of lithium.

Current methods of extraction are time-consuming and inefficient – up to 70 per cent of lithium present in the brines is lost using this process. Additionally, chemical infiltrations within groundwater and reduced water availability have become synonymous with these operations, as seen in the Salar de Atacama.

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