Lithium for a Clean Future

What is lithium?

Lithium is the lightest metal on the planet. Its unique electrochemistry allows lithium atoms to be discharged and recharged efficiently and repeatedly in batteries we use every day in our laptops, phones and electric powered vehicles. One tonne of lithium carbonate equivalent can power approximately 17 electric vehicles (that have 60 KWh batteries). Additionally, lithium batteries are critical in renewables for storage of wind and solar generated energy and distribution to the grid.

Supply and Demand

Global lithium production is currently estimated to be around 350,000 tonnes per year lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE). Forecasted demand for LCE by 2025 is approximately 1,000,000 tonnes per year and by 2030 is forecasted to exceed 2,000,000 tonnes¹.

Right now, China is the world’s leading manufacturer of lithium chemicals, with most of the mining in Australia and South America¹. In 2019, the US had a 1% share of lithium mining.

Increased demand for lithium is driven predominantly by electric vehicle sales. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence forecasts electric vehicle demand to increase at an annual compound rate (CAGR) of 29% over the coming 10 years. In addition, Benchmark forecasts stationary storage demand to grow at a CAGR of 41%, over the next 10 years, overtaking portable electronic demand by 2024.

Globally, policy makers have set targets to ban the sales of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to meet clean air objectives. As early as 2035 in Norway and the Netherlands, 2030 in the UK, Germany, Israel and India, 2035 for California and 2040 in France. Plus, major automakers, such as General Motors and Volvo, have announced plans to go fully electric by 2035 and 2030, respectively¹.

Bottomline, the world needs more lithium production to meet these global targets.

¹Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, Q1 2021 Forecast

US Clean Energy Agenda

On April 22, 2021, US President Biden announced targets for the US to achieve a 50-52% reduction of greenhouse gas pollution from 2005 levels by 2030.

Over the next decade, US battery capacity is expected to grow by eight times to over 355 GWh, with 10 domestic battery megafactories planned for development during this period¹.

By 2030, US battery capacity is expected to need over 250,000 tonnes of battery-quality lithium carbonate equivalent per year1. The US currently produces less than 1% of global output².

Our Thacker Pass project in Humboldt County, Nevada is uniquely positioned to play a key role in building an American-made lithium supply chain. Thacker Pass has the potential to increase US lithium supply over 10-fold – a huge leap forward towards meeting expected domestic demand, as well as create good-paying jobs, reduce America’s overall carbon footprint and support autoworkers building modern, efficient electric vehicles.

Nevada could quite literally power the US electric vehicle fleet. Lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) from Phase 1 at Thacker Pass (30,000-35,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of LCE) could enable 500,000-585,000 electric vehicles (with an average 60 kilowatt-hour battery) per year. Phase 2 production of up to 60,000 tpa of LCE would enable up to 1,000,000 electric vehicles per year.

Visit the Thacker Pass project page to learn more or our Community Connections page to learn how Thacker Pass can benefit Nevada.

¹ Source: Lithium Americas Presentation, December 10, 2020, citing Benchmark Minerals and McKinsey & Company (slide 11)

² Source: Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, "A New Global Lithium Ion Economy is Being Created" - Benchmark's Simon Moores US Senate Testimony Transcript.