The future of battery-powered cars is dependent on the amount of Li-ion in them.
Salt Lake City-based Compass Minerals is partnering with Energy Source Minerals to extract metal from brine water in Utah.
The Great Salt Lake has been identified as a potential location for a lithium mine. It’s a step in the right direction to create an American industry that can meet the demand for batteries for electric vehicles.
“I think we’re all trying to support each other to support the EV revolution that’s coming,” said Energy Source President and CEO Eric Spomer. It is huge.
Energy Source has a technology called DLE that uses salty brine to extract the metal from the rock. They are building a plant along the Salton Sea.
The underground brine water will be pumped back below the ground after it’s taken from it. This method is better for the environment than open-pit mines, according to him. Both of those methods are used around the world.
It will be the cleanest battery in the world. Every measure. Land use, water use, and emissions are related. It does not get any better than this.
In Imperial County, brine water can be used as a secondary source of energy. There is a Geothermal energy plant there. The boiling hot water that runs the turbine and produces the energy is the same water that will be used to make the batteries.
The Imperial Valley is expected to be a major source of precious metal.
He thought it would happen. We will be happy to help other people cause the Salton Sea to be developed as a power resource and a hugelithium resource.
The company will eventually mine 20,000 tons of the substance.