Evaluating the long-run availability of lithium

Cumulative Availability Curve for Lithium, 2022, including 124 conventional brine and hard-rock deposits containing 649 MMT LCE in situ resources and additional 41 MMT LCE in 8 selected categories of unconventional deposits for which quantity and cost estimates are available. Other unconventional deposit types are not included in the figure but discussed in the text of the paper.
Cumulative Availability Curve for Lithium, 2022, including 124 conventional brine and hard-rock deposits containing 649 MMT LCE in situ resources and additional 41 MMT LCE in 8 selected categories of unconventional deposits for which quantity and cost estimates are available. Other unconventional deposit types are not included in the figure but discussed in the text of the paper.

CMI researchers from Colorado School of Mines conducted the activity for this highlight

Innovation 
Estimating the quantities and associated production costs of known lithium resources, updating and extending a 2009 evaluation. 

Achievement
Using a cumulative availability curve to summarize estimates of quantities, costs, and locations of 150 conventional and unconventional lithium deposits.

Significance and Impact

  • Known, in-situ resources more than doubled between 2009 and 2023.
  • An incentive price in the range of $12,500 to $15,000 is implied – i.e., the long-run price necessary to incentivize investment to bring these resources into production. 

Hub Target Addressed 
Enhancing criticality assessment to make it more forward looking.