
Searching for lithium deposits with satellites - johnny313
https://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21736502-theres-lithium-them-hills-searching-lithium-deposits-satellites
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ggm
As an aside, we're not actually short of lithium. What we're short of is
current sources, so this is about exploiting a mechanism to find new sources
cheaply, to sell to developers who want to make a killing on lithium futures.
Because right now, there's actually quite a lot of lithium out there, ready to
be extracted.

A Tesla battery uses 63kg. There is estimated to be around 50MT (megatonnes)
of Lithium in the supply chain and known deposits. If we fermi-maths this
around, call it 50kg per car, thats 20 per Tonne, so we have enough in known
deposits for 1 billion tesla cars.

Sure, thats less than one car and one powerwall per person on the planet. So
in some sense, we know we'll need more.

But, whilst I applaud this use of satellites, please don't mistake this for
_news_ because earth-sensing sats have been used for mining research since
before tesla was a thing. As the article says: its only new using it to search
for lithium.

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rmm
Mining guy here. I have done plenty of feasibility study works for lithium
projects over past few years and in general;

There is a lot of supply coming online from hard rock lithium sources in the
next 12-24 months, especially from Australian spodumene sources.

Demand side is heavily from the Chinese electric car market. Smaller cars,
only 5-6kg max LCE per car. All other demand is a small percentage of what
Chinese demand is estimated to be.

And yes you are right, we have been using satellite imagery for decades, it’s
just a lot easier now.

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ggm
Dorothy Dunnetts 'nicolo' series of bodice-ripper historical fiction has its
roots in the discovery of Tolfa (alum) mines and the impact on the dye
industry. The clue to location being (amongst other things) holly and a
differential preference for alum rich soil. I guess in some sense remote
sensing for vegetation and then focussed analysis has deep deep roots.

Interesting that lithium sources are going to rock. I thought the saltpan
stuff in the Atacama was a price beater for years to come. I also believe the
various rare earth dependencies are determined not to get caught behind China
as a sole source.

~~~
rmm
Brine sources are massive, cheaper sources, but take years to come online. The
problem was there were about 3-4 major players in Lithium (it was actually a
side product for them) and they didn't see the demand rising as quickly as it
did.

This allowed for a massive price increase, which made it feasible for hard-
rock miners to come in. With a decent project, you could go from finding the
resource to production in 12-18 months, as the ore is normally close to the
surface, and processing for export is relatively simple.

So the next 12 months a lot of these projects are starting to beging
production, while the brine players play catch up.

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IntronExon
The bottom line is:

 _The plan is to use satellites already in orbit to detect and map geological
and botanical features that might betray the presence of subterranean lithium.
Though satellite prospecting of this sort has been employed before, to look
for metals such as gold and copper, using it to search for lithium is new._

 _The searchers are not searching blind. They know, from mining records dating
from the mid-1800s, that there is lithium in Cornwall’s rocks. Those records
tell of underground springs containing salts of lithium—at that time quite a
recently discovered element._

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sytelus
TLDR; Li ore prices have doubled in past 10 years. How do you search for it
from space? _satellite cameras, both optical and infra-red, and also
satellite-borne radar, to look for mineral formations caused by hot liquids
reacting with existing rock, and for rock fractures that could act as channels
for lithium-bearing brine. They will, as well, record anomalies in vegetation
that might be the result of lithium-rich soils, or of hot springs that might
contain the element._

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neonate
[http://archive.is/n0sr4](http://archive.is/n0sr4)

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kozikow
I would pay for just this article, but I don't want 12. Why does every
newspaper only offers subscription option?

~~~
Gys
Because we still have no good micro payment system. So payments are slow
(enter creditcard numbers, paypal credentials) and expensive (whatever you
use, transactions have a USD 0.30 miniumum plus a percentage...).

~~~
Animats
Bitcoin! Oh, right.

