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Thailand discovers nearly 15M tonnes of lithium

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Re: Thailand discovers nearly 15M tonnes of lithium

#291
post #245
post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

15,000,000t×0.004 = 60,000,000kg. 60,000,000kg/63kg per car [1] ≈ 952,000 cars, about 55% of Tesla's production last year. [1] https://electrek.co/2016/11/01/breakdown-raw-materials-tesla...

Yikes, looks like EVs are gonna be resource-constrained real soon unless new battery tech emerges.

I don't see how EVs are any more viable than ICEs if they continue to be as crassly oversized and overpowered.

A 20 KG e-bike can get a person around with 0.3 BHP, so 200 KG and 30 BHP is already pushing the boat out.

But people want another order of magnitude on top of that.

Re: Thailand discovers nearly 15M tonnes of lithium

#292
post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yikes, looks like EVs are gonna be resource-constrained real soon unless new battery tech emerges.

I don't see how EVs are any more viable than ICEs if they continue to be as crassly oversized and overpowered. A 20 KG e-bike can get a person around with 0.3 BHP, so 200 KG and 30 BHP is already pushing the boat out. But people want another order of magnitude on top of that.

It's difficult to move a family and groceries around on an ebike, as it is to transit multiple people (many underaged), move the elderly, disabled, obese, or pretty much anyone who doesn't fit into the image you appear to have of people transiting.

Re: Thailand discovers nearly 15M tonnes of lithium

#293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see how EVs are any more viable than ICEs if they continue to be as crassly oversized and overpowered. A 20 KG e-bike can get a person around with 0.3 BHP, so 200 KG and 30 BHP is already pushing the boat out. But people want another order of magnitude on top of that.

It's difficult to move a family and groceries around on an ebike, as it is to transit multiple people (many underaged), move the elderly, disabled, obese, or pretty much anyone who doesn't fit into the image you appear to have of people transiting.

Somebody's not travelled to Asia then ...

From India to the Philippines and out to Indonesia rides a population on petrol engine scooters and motorcycles that exceeds the US population ans is currently transitioning to EV bikes.

Many are elderly, disabled, ride with multiple passengers, few are obese to US standards.

Re: Thailand discovers nearly 15M tonnes of lithium

#294
post #3

If Thailand has it, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia probably do too. Edit: After checking on a map, probably Myanmar/Malaysia.

Myanmar is in active civil war and under sanctions https://www.state.gov/burma-sanctions/ Even if they did find it, no one would be able to use it.

The Chinese fund and own several regional warlords and resource mafias. They can probably bribe and subvert their way into any promising lithium find.

Re: Thailand discovers nearly 15M tonnes of lithium

#295
I would be interested to see any detailed locations of the finds.

Phang Nga ('Paang Nah') is a very beautiful province, with spectacular limestone mountains, tilting down to the south, to become astonishing stacks and islands in Phang Nga Bay and the Andaman Gulf. But it also includes a long west coast from Phuket up to Ranong.

There are several National Parks and scenic areas. So protection and access may both be problems for any exploitation.

However, Thailand is very corrupt, so Chinese money will find a way.

Re: Thailand discovers nearly 15M tonnes of lithium

#296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Define “better living standards.” Obviously has been great for third world countries. But folks in the west don’t seem to happy about the situation. I don’t think the widespread availability of cheap Chinese crap offsets the downside of hollowing out the industrial base and non-college jobs.

That was caused by bad US monetary policy. You've confused cause and effect. (Americans hate inflation so much they preferred the Volcker recession in the 70s, which is what caused the deindustrialization, which is what caused things to move to Asia.)

volcker recession was in the 80s

Re: Thailand discovers nearly 15M tonnes of lithium

#297
post #289
post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citations very sorely needed on every single one of your wild speculations.

These are not "wild speculations", they are all widely know facts. It is more common in the earth's crust than lead, tin, uranium, etc which we mine magnitudes more per year [1], and there are significantly more reserves in seawater [2], where extraction is mostly limited by how much energy we need to use to extract it. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance_of_elements_in_Earth... [2] https://www.science.org/co…

Per [1], lithium is somewhere between "too rare to consider" and 33rd in the list of elements sorted by abundance. The yield of the other quoted elements from their respective ores are magnitudes higher than that of lithium, and those ores are also important sources of other metals such as silver as byproducts of the refining process, so there is relatively much more value in exploration and mining those elements vs lithium.

Your claims of economic feasibility are still well within the range of speculation, you haven't backed up your claims with any serious evidence or analysis. Your claims of abundance are of the flavor of "wait and see how much more we find" which is speculation by definition.

Re: Thailand discovers nearly 15M tonnes of lithium

#298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's difficult to move a family and groceries around on an ebike, as it is to transit multiple people (many underaged), move the elderly, disabled, obese, or pretty much anyone who doesn't fit into the image you appear to have of people transiting.

Somebody's not travelled to Asia then ... From India to the Philippines and out to Indonesia rides a population on petrol engine scooters and motorcycles that exceeds the US population ans is currently transitioning to EV bikes. Many are elderly, disabled, ride with multiple passengers, few are obese to US standards.

I have, and in both of those countries it is difficult and dangerous. Safety standards are extremely different, speeds are slower - traffic conditions and quality life is so uncomparable to the US that I'm finding it difficult to believe that if you've been to those countries you're not intentionally cherry picking here.

Re: Thailand discovers nearly 15M tonnes of lithium

#299
post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It won't cause conflict because China will just come in and take it... vs > "Here, take a 'free' hydrodam on your river and we will just take some land and electricity." So which is it? They will 'take it' or they will trade for it? That's the problem with anti-chinese propaganda. It makes no sense and is full of contradictions.

What they take has been proven to be far greater value than what they gave. It isn't a fair "trade", at all. To be fair to China, corrupt locals allowed it to happen.

> What they take has been proven to be far greater value than what they gave. It isn't a fair "trade", at all.

Sure it is. As long as it wasn't coerced.

> To be fair to China, corrupt locals allowed it to happen.

I have a feeling that any trade with china or anything that helps poor countries progress is 'corrupt' to you. But then again, you push so much ant-china shilling, I recognize you just from your username.

If china is taking so much for so little, why isn't europe or the US swooping in and offering a better deal? Perhpas because china is giving them the best deal?

Re: Thailand discovers nearly 15M tonnes of lithium

#300
post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What they take has been proven to be far greater value than what they gave. It isn't a fair "trade", at all. To be fair to China, corrupt locals allowed it to happen.

> What they take has been proven to be far greater value than what they gave. It isn't a fair "trade", at all. Sure it is. As long as it wasn't coerced. > To be fair to China, corrupt locals allowed it to happen. I have a feeling that any trade with china or anything that helps poor countries progress is 'corrupt' to you. But then again, you push so much ant-china shilling, I recognize you just from your username. If…

> As long as it wasn't coerced.

By definition, it was coerced.

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