Americans may no longer need to rely on foreign batteries to power their electronics.
Geologists have announced that the Appalachian Mountains – which span from Canada to Alabama – could be hiding a sprawling multibillion-dollar cache of lithium that could last the US hundreds of years.
“This research shows that the Appalachians contain enough lithium to help meet the nation’s growing needs,” US Geological Survey (USGS) Director Ned Mamula said in a statement, per The New York Post.
According to a map by the institution, the mountain range houses around 2.5 metric tons of the battery precursor, most of which is concentrated in North and South Carolina, Maine and New Hampshire. The total value? Around $US64.4 billion ($90.3bn).
Per Bloomberg, the US imports nearly half of its consumption of lithium, which powers lithium-ion batteries that are used for everything from iPhones to vehicles and even aerospace alloys.
With this recent mineral mother lode, USGS officials estimate America could supply 1.6 million grid-scale batteries – enough to power 130 million electric vehicles or supply 180 billion laptops for a collective thousand years of global use.
It could also fuel 500 billion cellphones, the equivalent of 60 devices for every person on Earth.
All told, this haul is enough to replace 328 years of imports at least year’s level, providing “a major contribution to US mineral security, at a time when global lithium demand is rising rapidly”, Mr Mamula said.
To determine the amount of lithium in the Appalachians, the USGS scientists employed “geologic maps, tectonic history, geochemical sampling, geophysical surveys and records of mineral occurrences”.
By conducting simulations using a global dataset for lithium pegmatites (a highly valuable coarse igneous rock), they were able to estimate how many untapped lithium deposits there were in the study area.
This allowed them to extrapolate how much of the mineral resource they held. In total, the team identified 18 different lithium-rich districts across the region.
Why do the Appalachians harbour such a treasure trove of this invaluable mineral?
The USGS explained that these pegmatites in the northern Appalachians formed from the same geologic forces that “built the mountains more than 250 million years ago”.
“The high heat and pressure during the mountain-building caused some of the deeper crustal rocks to melt, and some of these magmas were rich in lithium,” it said.
“Because of their immense age, lithium-rich rocks formed during ancient tectonic plate collisions, when continents slammed together to create the supercontinent Pangaea.”
This lithium mine is crucial given that the world production “capacity for lithium will double by 2029, driven by increasing demand”, the USGS said.
Australia currently leads the charge when it comes to lithium production, supplying nearly half the global supply in 2024.
Following close behind is China, which also accounts for the majority of lithium refining and consumption.
This latest discovery has the potential to reshuffle the list.
“The US was the dominant world producer of lithium three decades ago, and this research highlights the abundant potential to reclaim our mineral independence,” Mr Mamula said.
This article was originally published by The New York Post and was reproduced with permission
