ADVANCES IN UNDERSTANDING LITHIUM BRINE RESOURCES AND NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF THESE CRITICAL MINERAL DEPOSITS (Invited Presentation)

The Earth is warming at an unprecedented pace due to the release of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels. Our society is now in the great transition to a more sustainable energy supply with a focus on increasing domestic supply of critical minerals. The development of portable and powerful energy storage mechanisms is essential to replace our dependence on high-energy density fossil fuels. Lithium-ion batteries have emerged as the most important technology for this purpose and are ubiquitous in the auto industry. The element lithium is abundant in the Earth’s crust, however, ore deposit models for lithium lag behind. The demand for lithium has grown exponentially and the price of lithium has increased by several 100% in the last two years. Economic deposits of lithium are found in pegmatites, closed-basin continental brines, and clays. Emerging oil-field and geothermal brines could eventually become economic and are getting increased attention but face major hurdles in extraction technologies. The origin of the lithium brines and their distribution worldwide is fundamentally tied to the geology, hydrogeology, and geochemistry of the host basin system. In parallel to basic resource models of lithium brines there are multiple environmental aspects that must be considered during exploration and extraction. Over the last decade we have developed an interdisciplinary approach to defining the processes and mechanisms of (ground) water and hydrogeochemistry in transporting, accumulating, and extracting lithium in continental brines. The environmental impacts of lithium brine pumping are explored and discussed in the context of balancing the sustainability of lithium-ion batteries as a fundamental piece of the global future energy transition. We conclude with recommendations and research needs and opportunities to balance resource extraction and sustainable development.