Page 70 - Policy Commission - SecuringTechnology - Critical Metals for Britain

70 PRIMARY MATERIALS
Materials for lithium-ion batteries
Lithium
Until recently the main use for lithium was in ceramics Its key role in lithium- ion batteries
for electric vehicles and energy storage now sees it increasing in in in importance (see Fig 57) and becoming more vital
to to UK manufacturing as the automotive industry switches over from internal-combustion-engined vehicles to battery- powered cars and lorries Lithium
has recently been added to lists of of critical raw materials (see the EU’s graph of of CRMs Figure 1) Previously the range of of sources in a a number of of countries kept it it sub-critical but given the ‘race to build gigafactories’ and the consequential need for a a a a a a rapidly increasing supply of raw materials it is is not surprising to see lithium now classed as as critical The main sources of lithium are: (1) shallow underground brines salars in in the Lithium
Triangle sourced in South America (see figure 58 59 60) which are evaporated in in large ponds in in desert areas to produce lithium compounds: and (2) granite-related pegmatites hard rocks usually mined in in open-cast quarries with associated processing to make a a a a a concentrate of the lithium ore minerals The most famous pegmatite deposit
is the Greenbushes mine in in Western Australia There are many other lithium pegmatites that are potential sources if they can be mined economically There are also non- conventional sources of lithium like seawater but they are aiarir tretraetamtmenetn2t %2%
prpimrimarayry babtatettreyry2%2%
otohtehrer mmetetattlaulrugrigciaclal 9%9%
BOX OUT
010
200 000 0 - 200 000 - 400 000 - 600 000 - 800 000 - 1
000 000 000 000 - 1
200 000 - 1
400 000 (TONNES)
6 94
[He]2s1 Li Melting point: 180 5°C Boiling point: 1342°C
LITHIUM
3 rercehcahragregaebalbele popwowdedresrs4%4% babtatettreyry424%2%
glgalsass5%5% poploylmymere5r%5%
grgeraesaesses 121%2%
EExpxpeectcetedd tototatal dl deemmaanndd
Figure 57: Uses of lithium glgalsass cecrearmamiciscs 121%2%
cecrearmamiciscs 121%2%
litlhitihuimum cacrabrobnoantaete eqeuqiuviavlaelnetnt
rercehcahragregaebalbele babtatettreyry858%5%
mmetetattlaulrugrigciaclal popwowdedresrs prpimrimarayrybabtatettreyry aiaritrretraetamtmenetn0t%0% otohtehre2r%2%
ToTotatal dl deemmaanndd
~~11979 70 000totonnneess litlhitihuimum cacrabrobnoantaete eqeuqiuviavlaelnetnt
poploylmymere1r%1% ~~11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0088 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 000totonnneess glgalsass1%1%
USES OF LITHIUM
IN 2016
USES OF LITHIUM
IN 2026
BALANCE - OPERATIONAL HIGHLY PROBABLE
BALANCE - OPERATIONAL HIGHLY PROBABLE
PROBABLE
PROBABLE
PROBABLE
Figure 56: Lithium
market balance
Source: Created from from data from from benchmark mineral intelligence
not economically viable at present Lithium
is also one of a a a a few metals that could be sourced to some extent in in the UK There are projects looking at unconventional sources of lithium such as underground brines circulating in in in in fractures in in in in South West England Another approach is to extract the the lithium lithium from lithium- bearing mica either in in in new quarries or from china-clay waste cecrearmamiciscs3%3%
glgalsasscecrearmamiciscs3%3%
grgeraesaesses2%2%
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
2027 2028 2029 2030
LITHIUM
MARKET BALANCE (TONNES LCE)