Scientists say that the world’s largest “white gold” mine is sitting beneath a giant lake in California. Huge stores of lithium were discovered under the Salton Sea in a study funded by the Department of Energy to discover just how much of the powerful yet soft white metal lay there, the San Francisco Gate reports. They had no idea what they’d find.
California Governor Gavin Newsom says the Salton Sea is the “Saudi Arabia of lithium.”
While it was already known that the lake was sat on top of a lithium reservoir thanks to previous drilling in the area, scientists previously had no idea just how much there was.
However, the latest study now finds there could be up to 18 million tons of it beneath the water. To put that in real terms, that could make 382 million batteries for electric cars.
There’s an estimated $540 billion worth of lithium beneath the Salton Sea.
In 2023, one metric ton of lithium is said to be worth up to $37,000. If you were to get that price for all the lithium scientists now believe is beneath the Salton Sea, you’re looking at a minimum of a cool $540 billion.
According to Michael McKibben, geochemistry professor at the University of California and one of the study’s 22 authors: “This is one of the largest lithium brine deposits in the world. This could make the United States completely self-sufficient in lithium and stop importing it through China.”
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This is a “huge” discovery when it comes to climate change, many think.
The LA Times climate columnist Sammy Roth told KZJJ’s “The Show” that it’s always been known that there was lithium beneath the Salton Sea, but the need to get it out has never been more dire.
“There have been companies for decades, actually that have been trying to get lithium out of there, and especially in the last decade as electric vehicles and energy storage on the the power grid become such a big need.”
“But this this new report out of the federal government it’s really a sort of eye-popping number. They found that there’s potentially enough lithium down there to supply batteries for 382 million electric vehicles, which is more, more vehicles than there are on the road in the United States today. So, if we could get all that lithium, that’d be huge.”
Of course, one imagines this would mean destroying the lake as we know it, so is it really a win? Those who aim to make a ton of money out of it will no doubt think so.
