Is Arkansas the new source for critical Lithium mining?

[Melensdad]

Instead of using foreign child labor in filthy lithium mines overseas, could the US State of Arkansas become the leading producer of Lithium with a reported potential to extract 19 MILLION TONS of lithium? And since the US uses both cleaner and safer mining methods than other parts of the world, it could actually be a clean(er) operation to extract the lithium that is critical for advanced battery production.

According to the study, the potential is that Arkansas could have 136% of the currently known US lithium, which would make it a very significant find.

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4945872-arkansas-19-million-tons-lithium-battery-power/

FULL STORY AT 'The Hill' LINK ABOVE ^^^

Researchers say Arkansas may have 19M tons of lithium critical for battery power​

Researchers said in a recent article that Arkansas may have 19 million tons of lithium, which is used in rechargeable batteries for important products like phones and electric cars. . . .​

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According to a Monday release from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), “the Smackover Formation is a relic of an ancient sea that left an extensive, porous, and permeable limestone geologic unit that extends under parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida.”​

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Lithium, which has been labeled by the USGS as a critical mineral, has been often obtained from brines or salt flats they evaporate into. According to a projection from the International Energy Agency, demand for lithium could increase by more than 40 times by 2040.​

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According to the article, the researchers utilized a machine-learning model trained on “published and newly collected brine lithium concentration data,” making “a map of predicted lithium concentrations in Smackover Formation brines across southern Arkansas.” ​

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The article’s findings come from the work of both the USGS and the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment’s Office of the State Geologist, according to the USGS release. . . . ​

 

[EastTexFrank]

No country ever becomes great and remains great by ignoring its God given natural resources. Unfortunately, the USA seems determined to try and that's why I don't think that this discovery will go anywhere. It'll be tied up in the political halls and courts for years.