The location of a former supervolcano on the border of Oregon and Nevada might emerge as the biggest lithium reservoir in the United States and potentially globally. Recent studies indicate that the McDermitt Caldera could house over 132 million tons of lithium, sufficient to meet global demand for many years. This discovery has the potential to significantly enhance the U.S.’s electric vehicle supply chain, and notably, it comes from a domestic source.
What’s remarkable is that the lithium deposit at the caldera could surpass the previously largest known lithium source globally, Bolivia’s Atacama Salt Flat, by a factor of 12 in terms of volume. More importantly, the proposed extraction methods from the caldera are believed to be less environmentally damaging.
Traditional lithium extraction methods, whether mining lithium ore or recovering brine, are known to be resource-intensive and environmentally harmful. However, due to the caldera’s unique formation following a massive volcanic eruption 16 million years ago, scientists suggest a less invasive and more efficient third extraction method using volcanic sedimentary lithium. This discovery holds the promise of accessing the world’s largest lithium deposit right in our own backyard and obtaining most of it through a purportedly less harmful approach.
Popular Science says:
When volcanic minerals containing lithium flow into nearby valleys and react with the loose dirt, they leave behind lithium-rich sediments that require little energy and processing to separate.
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