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Click to add WeChatLithium is the lightest of all metals. It is widely used inair treatment, batteries, ceramics, glass, metallurgy, pharmaceuticals and polymers. Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are particularly important in the fight against global warming because they can power cars and trucks using renewable energy sources, such as hydropower, solar or wind energy, rather than burning fossil fuels.
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Today, lithium is generally extracted from brine pumped from beneath arid sedimentary basins, or from Extracted from granite pegmatite ore. The main producer of lithium brine is Chile, and the main producer of lithium pegmatite is Australia. Other potential sources of lithium include clays, geothermal brines, oil field brines and zeolites.
When the cooling magma begins to crystallize minerals, the lithium remains in the remaining melt until near the end. Active plate tectonics throughout Earth's history concentrated lithium in the continental crust through partial melting of the mantle beneath mid-ocean ridges and volcanic arcs. The melt, or magma, rose and then cooled, becoming a new rock in the Earth's crust, bringing with it a wealth of available lithium.
Among the common rock or sediment types, the highest concentrations of lithium are found in shale (average 66 ppm) and deep sea clay (average 57 ppm )andlow-calcium granite (average 40ppm). These tiny concentrations are not enough to form a mineral deposit or even a mineral for which lithium is part of the chemical formula. When present in only such minute concentrations, lithium atoms replace other metals (usually magnesium) in common rock-forming minerals. Lithium minerals form only when a rare combination of favorable factors aligns.
Most known lithium minerals occur in coarse-grained granites called lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites. In terms of lithium resources, the most important minerals are spodumene and lithium feldspar (both lithium aluminum silicate) and lepidolite (potassium lithium aluminum silicate). The main lithium mineral in sedimentary rocks is the clay hectorite. Lithium is highly soluble. During the weathering process of rock, it is often removed in solution and carried by rivers to the sea. Therefore, lithium is expected to accumulate in the ocean, just as the accumulation of sodium makes the ocean salty. However, it is important to note thatthe amount of lithium in seawater is less than 1 ppm. The reason may be that lithium in seawater is removed in trace amounts by clay minerals and accumulates in seafloor soft mud.
Lithium deposits can be roughly divided into six categories, namely: Lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatite deposits, < strong>Lithium-rich granite, Lithium salt deposits in closed basins, Lithium in other brines, Lithium clay deposits,Leonite deposits.
Lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatite is found in the hinterland of metamorphic igneous rocks in orogenic belts and is the result of plate convergence. Most lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatites formed during collisions between continents or microcontinents and are associated with aluminum-rich granites produced by the melting of metasedimentary rocks. Dozens of pegmatites in the Appalachian Mountains were formed during the long-term collision between Africa and North America 370 million to 275 million years ago. Lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatites can be dated using isotopic dating. In pegmatites, the minerals niobium-tantalite and zircon are dated by exploiting the decay of uranium-238 to lead-206. Lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatites from six continents have now been dated.
Some muscovite-containing granites include regions rich in the elements lithium, tantalum, tin and fluorine. At the Yichun mine in Jiangxi Province, China, the top of biotite-muscovite granite grades into muscovite granite and then into lepidolite granite, where lithium and tantalum have been mined. Lithium-rich granites are closely related to LCT pegmatites, and the two were not distinguished from each other in recent global lithium resource assessments.
Closed basin brine deposits are estimated to account for 58% of the world’s proven lithium resources. Lithium brine deposits are accumulations of saline groundwater rich in dissolved lithium. Producing lithium deposits have average lithium concentrations ranging from 160 to 1,400 ppm, with estimated lithium resources ranging from 0.3 to 6.3 million tonnes. Producing lithium deposits are located in Asia, North and South America, in northern and arid latitudes on either side of the equator. These deposits share many characteristics:
(a) Arid climate;
(b) Closed basins containing salt lakes or salt flats;
(c) Tectonic-driven subsidence;
(d) Associated igneous or geothermal activity;
(e) Lithium-containing source rocks;
(f) One or more sufficient aquifers to accommodate brine reservoirs;
(g) Sufficient time to concentrate the brine.
Deep oil field brines may contain up to several hundred parts per million of lithium. In some places, lithium levels in brine are as high as 692 milligrams per liter (mg/L). Brines occupy the pore spaces of approximately 200 m thick limestone at depths between 1,800 and 4,800 m. The brine, known as trapped seawater, was then hydrothermally enriched with lithium and other trace elements. Oilfield brines have two drawbacks as a potential lithium resource. First, they typically occur at greater depths (>1 km) than closed basin brines. Second, unless they happen to be located in an arid climate, recovering lithium using convenient and cheap solar evaporation methods will not be feasible. Geothermal brines are another potential source of lithium. These fluids have traditionally derived their value from the heat they contain, which can be converted into mechanical energy—but some geothermal fluids contain unusually dissolved metals, including lithium. Simbol, Inc. is now reportedly recovering lithium from geothermal brines in the Salton Sea region along the California-Mexico border.
A small proportion of the world's clay deposits are rich in lithium. Lithium-bearing clay deposits account for approximately 7% of the world's lithium resources. Lithium clay is found in hydrothermally altered deposits of lakes in volcanic craters. Recovering lithium by leaching clay with sulfuric acid has proven feasible. In Turkey, the world-class Bigadiç borate deposit formed in hydrothermally altered sediments filling rift-related lake basins and contains associated hectorite.
The only documented lithium zeolite deposits come from the Neogene basin system in the Balkans of Eastern Europe. The Miocene lake beds of the Jadar Basin include oil shales, carbonates, evaporites, and tuffs. These formations host authigenic layers of abundant jdarite, a recently recognized boron-lithium silicate mineral of the zeolite family. The emerald rock formation is reportedly several meters thick. This single jade deposit accounts for an estimated 3% of the world's lithium resources.
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