Lithium in Chile

By: Mark Strassmann
Topics: Field Notes

(CBS)

Believe it or not, there's a place on the planet that sees one inch of rain every thirteen years. It's a desert in Chile called Salar de Atacama. It's the driest place on earth – a fact even introduced once on "Jeopardy" -- but for producers of lithium, this desert is one of the richest. Above ground is a vast wasteland of dried clumps of clay, some the size of a child's bicycle. Nothing grows out here. Below ground, though, is a different story.

"This is the best place on earth," Ron France told me in the middle of the desert. Neither of us could have traveled to many places that were more remote. France is president of Chemetall, an American company that produces lithium. Lithium is the world's lightest metal, and the energy source in the batteries of cell phones, laptops and Blackberrys.

Snow melts off the nearby Andes mountains and is trapped underground is this closed basin. One-hundred thirty feet below the surface, the water gathers in salt water brines. Chemetall, France's company, pumps the brine above ground into a series of ponds. In a process that lasts eighteen months, the desert sun evaporates out other salts. The beauty is that the sun does almost all the work. What's left is lithium brine, which is shipped to a nearby factory for processing into lithium carbonate powder and shipped to battery-makers, mostly in Asia.

Demand for lithium is about to soar. This fall, Mercedes will introduce into showrooms its first plug-in hybrid car. Its power will come from a lithium ion battery and the lithium alone in that battery will weigh twenty pounds. (The lithium in a cell phone weighs one-tenth of an ounce.) A half-dozen other carmakers have plans for their own plug-in models, powered by lithium. Chevy claims its new Volt will get at least 250 miles per gallon.

Three major companies dominate the world's lithium market. The metal itself is produced in only a half-dozen countries, including a small site in Nevada, but half the world's lithium comes from the Salar de Atacama. That's why Ron France thinks of this remote place in Chile as the best on earth.

So remember the Salar de Atacama. If plug-in hybrid cars catch on, the focus of America's energy policy could start to shift away from OPEC pipelines in the Middle East to lithium brine pools and Chile. And you never know when the name might come in handy as an answer on a "Jeopardy" re-run."

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by sepierce1950 September 10, 2009 10:50 AM EDT

Mr Strassman,
While the entire article is good news about a Western Hemisphere source for Lithium, it contains two glaring errors.

#1. BATTERIES DO NOT MAKE POWER- THEY ONLY STORE IT. THE POWER TO STORE IN THE LITHIUM BATTERIES MUST STILL BE GENERATED.
Lithium is key to the Lithium Ion and Lithium Polymer chemistry in this fairly new battery type. This chemistry stores many times more Amp-hours (energy) per pound of battery than current lead/acid, NiCad, and NiMHd chemistries. Neither the CBS article nor your's even hint that battery powered cars simply move the source of electrical generation (and possible polution) from cars to power plants.

THE OIL CARTELS WILL NOT GO AWAY. The Lithium cartels will simply be layed an top of them. The power plants and Hybrids will still need fuel sources to create the electricity to store in the batteries. Since our own US home grown sources (coal, nuclear, extended drilling) are fought at every turn, the oil cartels will still be needed.

#2: Using any form of miles/gallon measurement for an all electric car (like the Volt) is meaningless. They don't burn gas. Here was your 2nd chance to mention remote power generation. But you missed it.

I expect more accurate research and reporting from CBS News.

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by GoozyGuy September 11, 2009 7:21 PM EDT: I think you missed the key word "plug-in" AND I think you have been 'looking' for inaccuracies, rather than actually reading the article as a whole. The article tells you where the power is 'coming' from. As for where this engergy come from; some of these new Lithium powered cars will still contain a small combustion engine.

As for what fuel that will be needed to create this power that will be stored in these batteries; you are right... BUT, I think your missing or choosing to overlook the point of this article; it being the means of storing energy. For storing energy, yes, you are right... lithium is an excellent means. And less pollutant than NiC or NiM.