Vast lithium resources discovered in Pennsylvania could help ensure U.S. energy independence

China controls much of the global supply of lithium, needed for clean-energy technologies such as electric vehicle batteries, but a new lithium mine in the Keystone State, combined with increased domestic production, could help reduce U.S. reliance on imports.

In 2023, the Wall Street Journal published a fairly prescient article examining China’s $4.5 billion expenditure. Lithium mines around the world.

China dominates lithium-ion battery production 80% of the world’s battery cells And about 60% of the electric vehicle battery marketChina’s manufacturing advantages are also a major driving force for innovation. New Breakthroughs Announced This Week This could enable the country to produce batteries that charge faster and last longer.

Meanwhile, the United States is struggling to catch up. Recent industrial policies like the Inflation Control Act have $173 billion invested in electric vehicles and batteries Beyond 2021, the misguided decision to export most of its production overseas for decades will be the basis for the U.S. Lagging far behind China With regard to battery production, this has adverse implications for our national security and the competitiveness of the global economy.

If the U.S. does not take action, demand for lithium batteries will only increase as the world transitions to EVs and other clean energy technologies, and the U.S. may well find itself having to turn to China for its lithium battery needs.

But China has a problem it can’t solve: its lithium reserves are small. China produces roughly 20% of the world’s lithium. 8% of the world’s lithium reservesThat meant China had to look elsewhere for the lithium it needed for its massive battery industry. As the WSJ reported, China has been buying up lithium mines in places like Latin America and Africa, eventually Controlling one third of the world market.

Again, that puts the US at a disadvantage, but good old North American geography may come to its rescue.

Pittsburgh researchers said Wednesday A large source of lithium Wastewater from Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale gas wells is projected to have the potential to supply up to 40% of the U.S.’s total lithium demand. Another big lithium deposit in NevadaThis new discovery could mean the US can become self-sufficient in its lithium needs. In fact, there may be more lithium there: While the researchers limited their study to the Keystone State, there may also be reserves in neighboring states like Ohio and West Virginia, CBS News reports. Reports.

The researchers behind the findings Write in the official report:

This study estimates that Marcellus Shale-related Li production could contribute significantly to U.S. domestic consumption under a reasonable set of conservative assumptions. Even if the most likely estimates presented here were off by one or even two standard deviations, potential lithium production would still meet more than 30% of current U.S. domestic consumption. Moreover, if the estimates are too low, this provides further incentive to properly manage the Marcellus PW. The USGS estimates that there is approximately 96 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered gas in the Marcellus, suggesting that the productive life of the formation will extend beyond several decades. Future production will likely occur near the current operating area as new areas are developed. North-central Pennsylvania is less developed and has one of the highest lithium concentrations of the regions included in our analysis (Figure 1). 1). It seems clear that the Marcellus Shale deposit has the potential to produce significant amounts of lithium in the near future.

Of course, all of this comes with pitfalls. The United States has always been resource-rich. That’s one of the reasons It’s what made the United States a superpower. The key is to ensure that all available lithium is available for manufacturing in the United States, all the way through the supply chain from the point where the lithium is mined to the point where the lithium-ion battery is put into an electric vehicle.

While China may have to look abroad to find lithium, it produces nearly all of the world’s lithium domestically. Not only does it control more than four-fifths of the global lithium-ion battery market, 72% of the world’s lithium refining capacityThere is no benefit to the United States in extracting all of our lithium from a place like Pennsylvania and then immediately shipping it to China for refining.

However, the U.S. Newly discovered concentration When it comes to battery production, there may be an opportunity to use the natural resources available to us to create a vibrant new industry – one that creates lots of good jobs, reduces our dependence on China, and enhances our energy independence for decades to come.