I wish Australia the best of luck in escaping the resource curse, by moving up the value chain.
Relative to China.
I'd like this post to be more sarcastic than it is, really, I would.
How Australia became the world’s greatest lithium supplier
11–20 of 165 posts
Re: How Australia became the world’s greatest lithium supplier
#12Australia sure has a lot of empty land. Must be something down in there.
I always think of it as the land of snakes, spiders and salt-water crocodiles. However, this reputation may be slightly exaggerated:
https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/why-does-austr...
Re: How Australia became the world’s greatest lithium supplier
#13Rare earth mineral and lithium extraction is going to be the greatest disaster the world has ever seen because ocean floors will be plundered - the damage to the planet whether at sea or on land will be unprecedented. It is surreal how naive people are about both this plus the huge lithium batteries high temperature fire risks and associated high voltage electrocution. There is a reason we went from high pressure ste…
The alternative is gas. 100x more energy dense than lithium and it hasn't been great for the environment to say the least.
Re: How Australia became the world’s greatest lithium supplier
#14Rare earth mineral and lithium extraction is going to be the greatest disaster the world has ever seen because ocean floors will be plundered - the damage to the planet whether at sea or on land will be unprecedented. It is surreal how naive people are about both this plus the huge lithium batteries high temperature fire risks and associated high voltage electrocution. There is a reason we went from high pressure ste…
> and associated high voltage electrocution.
I am not aware of any cars using high voltage [0] yet. But of course getting zapped by low voltage is bad enough.
Re: How Australia became the world’s greatest lithium supplier
#15Rare earth mineral and lithium extraction is going to be the greatest disaster the world has ever seen because ocean floors will be plundered - the damage to the planet whether at sea or on land will be unprecedented. It is surreal how naive people are about both this plus the huge lithium batteries high temperature fire risks and associated high voltage electrocution. There is a reason we went from high pressure ste…
> and associated high voltage electrocution. I am not aware of any cars using high voltage [0] yet. But of course getting zapped by low voltage is bad enough. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_voltage
https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NR20210113.as...
Risks to Emergency Responders from High-Voltage, Lithium-Ion Battery Fires Addressed in Safety Report
Actions sought by the NTSB in the four safety recommendations issued Wednesday include:
Factoring the availability of a manufacturer’s emergency response guide, and its adherence to International Organization for Standardization standard 17840 and SAE International recommended practice J2990, when determining a U.S. New Car Assessment Program score. Continued research on ways to mitigate or deenergize stranded energy in high-voltage lithium-ion batteries. Continued research on ways to reduce the hazards associated with thermal runaway resulting from high-speed, high-severity crashes. Manufacturer emergency response guides modeled on ISO standard 17840 and SAE International recommended practice J2990. Incorporation of vehicle-specific information in emergency response guides for: Fighting high-voltage lithium-ion battery fires. Mitigating thermal runaway and the risk of high-voltage lithium-ion battery reignition. Mitigating risks associated with stranded energy in high-voltage lithium-ion batteries during emergency response and before a damaged electric vehicle is removed from the scene. Safely storing an electric vehicle with a damaged high-voltage lithium-ion battery. Providing information and available guidance to first responders and other crash scene workers about fire risks associated with high-voltage lithium-ion battery fires in electric vehicles. Fires in electric vehicles powered by high-voltage lithium-ion batteries pose the risk of electric shock to emergency responders from exposure to the high-voltage components of a damaged lithium-ion battery. A further risk is that damaged cells in the battery can experience thermal runaway – uncontrolled increases in temperature and pressure – which can lead to battery reignition. The risks of electric shock and battery reignition/fire arise from the “stranded” energy that remains in a damaged battery.
Re: How Australia became the world’s greatest lithium supplier
#16Australia is like the Saudi Arabia of mining. Such a big continent with very few people. Politically stable and smart enough to exploit itself and keep most of the profits. The lucky country indeed.
Mmm idk about keeping most of the profits - we could have done so much more in that regard over the last two decades. Missed opportunity to create something like Norway’s national oil wealth fund. Instead of offshoring most of the gains.
Re: How Australia became the world’s greatest lithium supplier
#17Australia is like the Saudi Arabia of mining. Such a big continent with very few people. Politically stable and smart enough to exploit itself and keep most of the profits. The lucky country indeed.
Mmm idk about keeping most of the profits - we could have done so much more in that regard over the last two decades. Missed opportunity to create something like Norway’s national oil wealth fund. Instead of offshoring most of the gains.
There is one: https://www.futurefund.gov.au/
Re: How Australia became the world’s greatest lithium supplier
#18Australia is like the Saudi Arabia of mining. Such a big continent with very few people. Politically stable and smart enough to exploit itself and keep most of the profits. The lucky country indeed.
Mmm idk about keeping most of the profits - we could have done so much more in that regard over the last two decades. Missed opportunity to create something like Norway’s national oil wealth fund. Instead of offshoring most of the gains.
[deleted]
Re: How Australia became the world’s greatest lithium supplier
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Afghanistan has something like $1T worth of lithium reserves. Who gets access and how it ends up being exploited remains to be seen but that country is not going to become some forgotten backwater anytime soon.
Afghanistan is landlocked. To its north is Russia. To its east is China. To its south are Pakistan and India. And to its west is Iran. Fun neighborhood. Nothing could go wrong with the above countries fighting for their share of Afghanistan's mineral resources.
India does not share land border with Afghanistan , although Afg and Indian people apparently share warm relations (not Taliban)
Re: How Australia became the world’s greatest lithium supplier
#20Shame Australian's see little to no benefit, all of the profits are off shored and there are little royalties paid back to the Australian people.