New lithium extraction methods could unlock hard-to-access reserves

There is a huge amount of lithium in the world, but not all deposits are currently being actively mined. Lithium is commonly mined from hard rock, but most of the world's lithium reserves are found in brine — extremely salty water beneath the Earth's surface. However, current methods of extracting lithium from brine are considered inefficient and environmentally harmful in many areas. Mining companies are therefore intensively testing alternative technologies that could enable greater development of extraction at deposits that are currently inaccessible.  

At present, as in previous decades, most new lithium production (approximately 90%) has come from hard-rock deposits. However, mining this way is becoming increasingly expensive, as the cost of extracting the resource at existing mines is rising while the quality of the lithium produced is falling. Moreover, the volume of lithium mined from hard rock is already nowhere near enough to meet global demand, which has grown rapidly in recent years, especially as a result of the development of electric mobility.