Lithium, coined 'the new oil,' is shifting global markets. Here's what you need to know about it
CBC
As electric vehicles become more common, the resources helping to power the new generation of transportation are becoming increasingly prized.
Lithium — a metal that's a key element in the batteries commonly used in today's EVs — has become an incredibly hot commodity in recent years. According to the United States Geological Survey, global consumption increased by 41 per cent from 2021 to 2022.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, dubbed lithium-based batteries "the new oil."
While lithium prices tumbled 65 per cent in 2023 after a meteoric two-year rise, analysts still anticipate hundreds of new mines are needed to meet surging EV demand.
So where does this newly critical resource come from, and how can Canada take advantage of its economic potential?
Lithium isn't found as a standalone metal in nature, but quantities of the resource can typically be sourced from underground hard-rock and brine deposits.
Hard-rock sources are often accessed through traditional mining techniques, while brine lithium is commonly extracted through a months-long evaporation process, said Craig Johnson, a professor of political science at the University of Guelph who leads a research team looking at lithium mining in five countries.
Hard-rock mining can have long-term impacts on the landscape and brine extraction is immensely water intensive, while the long-term impacts on ecosystems, wildlife, and nearby communities are not well-understood, said Johnson.
Community members and researchers have raised concerns over the potential negative impacts of these practices.
"There are costs associated with extracting lithium," said the researcher.
New techniques are being developed to streamline extraction operations, but Johnson says they have yet to be brought to scale.
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Australia, the world's leading producer of lithium, mostly mines hard-rock, while Chile — who once-held the title of world's largest producer — now stands in second and mainly uses evaporation, explained Johnson.
In 2022, Canada produced an estimated 500 tonnes of lithium — an amount dwarfed by the tens of thousands of tonnes produced by global lithium powerhouses.