Lithium is known as "white gold" for a solid reason; over the past several years, the metal's value has increased dramatically.  This boom in popularity is because it is a crucial component of lithium-ion batteries, which are vital for many critical sustainable technologies where energy storage is essential.  Lithium has become crucial to designing a future free of fossil fuels as electric vehicles, wind, and solar power have emerged as prominent actors in the energy market. 

However, getting lithium is very expensive, and mining is harmful, like most metals.  Frequently, it goes like this: About 500,000 gallons of water are used for every metric tonne in the lithium extraction process.

Miners enlarge a hole in salt flats and pump salty and mineral-rich brine to the top to collect lithium.  A mixture of manganese, potassium, borax, and lithium salts is left behind after the water evaporates after many months.  This mixture is filtered before being added to another evaporation pool. 

The mixture is adequately filtered after 12 and 18 months of this process to extract lithium carbonate.

More than half of the lithium in the world's supply is hidden beneath salt flats in South America's Lithium Triangle, which includes sections of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile.  However, it is also among the driest regions on the planet.  Mining activities in Chile's Salar de Atacama used up 65 percent of the water in the area, which had a significant negative impact on local farmers and forced some communities to obtain water from other sources.

Similar to Tibet, there is a chance that hazardous chemicals, such as hydrochloric acid, which is used to extract lithium, and waste materials that are filtered out of the brine, will escape from the evaporation pools into the water supply.  Lithium is chemically extracted from rock and mined in Australia and North America, and researchers in Nevada discovered effects on fish 150 miles downstream from a lithium processing facility.  The extraction of lithium contaminates the air and damages the soil.

Locals in Salar de Hombre Muerto, Argentina, think lithium mining operations contaminated streams used for raising crops, cattle, and human use.  Mountains of dumped salt and canals filled with tainted water with an artificial blue hue ruin the Chilean countryside. 

According to Guillermo Gonzalez, a lithium battery specialist at the University of Chile, this isn't a green option at all.

Most of the world's lithium reserves are in Australia and South America, and China is one of the top five nations with the most extensive lithium resources.  China has been purchasing shares in mining companies in these two regions.  The most significant lithium reserve in the world is located in Australia, where China's Tianqi Lithium has a majority interest.

In 2018, the business rose to a second-biggest shareholder in Chile's leading lithium producer, Sociedad Qumica y Minera.  The second-largest high-grade lithium resource in the world, Australia's Mount Marion mine, has a long-term deal to underwrite all the lithium raw materials generated by another Chinese business, Ganfeng Lithium.

According to The Wall Street Journal, only 1% of the world's lithium supply is now produced in the United States.  But mining of the metal is anticipated to rise significantly over the next few years as the Biden administration works to enhance the manufacture of electric vehicles and challenge China's market dominance.  According to experts, this will eventually lower fossil fuel emissions by making electric cars more accessible and thus more common.

Environmentalists argue whether the advantages of those cuts would balance the harm to the inhabitants of the mine-damaged area.

Recent studies point to a slightly more optimistic future situation. 

The batteries may be recovered and reused.  According to a 2020 study from the University of Cordoba in Spain, they can even function well without cobalt, another metal that calls for damaging mining methods. 

But for the time being, lithium mining is set to expand quickly to satisfy the increasing demand. 

It's critical to be aware of the dirty method used to power these clean air automobiles as more ecologically conscious consumers choose electric vehicles. I hope this article has shown you that we need to make the lithium mining process more sustainable and ecologically friendly as a whole.