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Gold/Mining/Energy : Big Dog's Boom Boom Room -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: energyplay who wrote (114366)	12/2/2008 2:42:56 PM
From: Dennis Roth	4 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 206209

The Trouble With Lithium >>Lithium is a reasonable common element in the earth's crust. << So's aluminum. In the Earth's crust, aluminium is the most abundant (8.3% by weight) metallic element and the third most abundant of all elements (after oxygen and silicon). Although aluminium is an extremely common and widespread element, the common aluminium minerals are not economic sources of the metal. Almost all metallic aluminium is produced from the ore bauxite (AlOx(OH)3-2x). A similar story exists for lithium. According to the Handbook of Lithium and Natural Calcium, "Lithium is a comparatively rare element, although it is found in many rocks and some brines, but always in very low concentrations. There are a fairly large number of both lithium mineral and brine deposits but only comparatively a few of them are of actual or potential commercial value. Many are very small, others are too low in grade." The most important deposit of lithium is in the Salar de Uyuni area of Bolivia, which holds half of the world's reserves.* As to the hope of using lithium ion batteries in electric vehicles, in a recent report by Meridian International Research. The Trouble With Lithium 2 (PDF)(May 28, 2008) concluded that "realistically achievable lithium carbonate production will be sufficient for only a small fraction of future PHEV and EV global market requirements"..."demand from the portable electronics sector will absorb much of the planned production increases in the next decade"..."mass production of lithium carbonate is not environmentally sound, it will cause irreparable ecological damage to ecosystems that should be protected and that LiIon propulsion is incompatible with the notion of the 'Green Car'". ** Handbook of Lithium and Natural Calcium, Donald Garrett, Academic Press, 2004, cited in The Trouble with Lithium 2 ***Bolivia holds key to electric car future. BBC, November 9, 2008 Wikipedia was used to find the sources quoted in this reply. en.wikipedia.org So the Lithium battery powered car is not likely to save GM.