Massive lithium discovery in California could be boon for US supply

A massive lithium find in California's Salton Sea region could help boost domestic supplies of the mineral, which plays a critical role in production of electric vehicle (EV) batteries

The Salton Sea region of Southern California is currently home to significant geothermal electricity generation. An analysis by a California state commission in 2020 found that the region's lithium concentration in the geothermal brines that are a byproduct of electricity generation is believed to be the highest in the world.

The Department of Energy announced in November 2023 that an analysis by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that the Salton Sea region could have resources to produce over 3,400 kilotons (or 3.4 million tons) of lithium — enough to support more than 375 million EV batteries. For context, that's more than the total number of vehicles on U.S. roads.

The evaporation of portions of the Salton Sea has cut into the region's tourism economy in recent decades, and adding lithium mining to its emerging geothermal energy generation could be a needed boost for the area. However, some have raised environmental concerns about the project.

FOX Business Network's Max Gorden spoke with Rod Colwell, CEO of Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR), which is moving forward with a project to extract and process lithium in the region while being powered by geothermal energy. 

CTR's project has received investment from automakers GM and Stellantis, while other companies also have lithium plants planned for the region.

"I would say, think about maybe the early days of big oil," Colwell said. "This is a very similar process, clean and green."

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