21–30 of 311 posts
Looks like existing worldwide reserves are 26M tons [0], so this is a big find. [0] https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2023/mcs2023-lithium.pd...
If Thailand has 14M and there are two others with >14M then total known resources must be at least 42M tons, no?
when valuable resources are scarce, people have an incentive to find and produce more of those resources. As Henry George put it: "Both the jayhawk and the man eat chickens, but the more jayhawks, the fewer chickens, while the more men, the more chickens" [0]. [0] https://www.econlib.org/archives/2009/12/the_gist_of_jul.htm...
I think the analogy doesn’t quite work. Humans produce chickens because we can do that. We find more lithium because we need it. Jayhawks can also evolve to get better at finding more chickens. And by their very nature, have been doing exactly that.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's the new oil, so I would be careful. Democracy and camaraderie and all those greater good things tend to come where the cheap resources are.
Deposits appear sufficiently distributed to not cause geopolitical conflicts [1]. This is not oil. Lithium is relatively abundant, and a mineral to be reused, not energy to be consumed once through. To keep it conflict free, we must continue to discover reserves and drive down the value of the commodity. No one goes to war over say, salt, in the 21st century (at least not yet!). [1] https://lithiumfuture.org/map.html
"Here, take a 'free' hydrodam on your river and we will just take some land and electricity."
How more stories do we need about finding lithium and "rare" earth metals being found before people realize they're not all that rare and we can stop reporting on it as if it's special?
Lithium is quite common. Problem is minign it without totally destroying local environment!
How more stories do we need about finding lithium and "rare" earth metals being found before people realize they're not all that rare and we can stop reporting on it as if it's special?
when valuable resources are scarce, people have an incentive to find and produce more of those resources. As Henry George put it: "Both the jayhawk and the man eat chickens, but the more jayhawks, the fewer chickens, while the more men, the more chickens" [0]. [0] https://www.econlib.org/archives/2009/12/the_gist_of_jul.htm...
Like with chickens, the Jayhawk should just learn to fuse hydrogen down to lithium. I think the analogy doesn’t quite work. Humans produce chickens because we can do that. We find more lithium because we need it. Jayhawks can also evolve to get better at finding more chickens. And by their very nature, have been doing exactly that.
Looks like existing worldwide reserves are 26M tons [0], so this is a big find. [0] https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2023/mcs2023-lithium.pd...