c/news · by MicroWave@lemmy.world · 271d

World's largest lithium deposit, valued at $1.5 trillion, lies under a supervolcano in the U.S.

https://www.earth.com/news/worlds-largest-lithium-deposit-lies-under-a-supervolcano-in-the-us/

Buried beneath an ancient volcanic crater on the Nevada Oregon border sits an enormous deposit of lithium rich clay. Scientists now think this quiet landscape may hold enough lithium to influence the global battery market for decades.

A new study argues that McDermitt caldera may host about 20 to 40 million metric tons of lithium, likely the largest deposit yet identified.

Using the recent United States’ average contract price for lithium carbonate, about 37,000 dollars per ton, that estimate comes out to be nearly $1.5 trillion.

221 points · 35 comments · view on lemmy.world

35 Comments

Catalyst_A@lemmy.ml · 63 pts · 271d (6 replies)

Can't wait to see them fuck this one up.

shittydwarf@piefed.social · 32 pts · 270d

etchinghillside@reddthat.com · 19 pts · 270d

Every state is eyeballing if their current drilling infrastructure can reach it.

_wizard@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 270d (3 replies)

Hope not. Been low key investing in LAC for awhile.

Mighty_Appititey@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 270d

You've been investing in the LA Clippers?

Redkid1324@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 270d (1 reply)

Wouldn't this influx of lithium dilute your investments?

_wizard@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 270d

Never said I was smart.

aramis87@fedia.io · 44 pts · 270d (3 replies)

Sure, go digging around the supervolcano, that can only end well ...

diverging@piefed.social · 32 pts · 270d

The volcano now is about 400 miles away, in Yellowstone, so there shouldn't be a problem with that. And no, the volcano did not move, the continent did.

tidderuuf@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 270d

I've played so many mining video games just give me an industrialized mega sized 3d printer, couple million dollars and I'll be set for life with that mine untouched.

ameancow@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 270d

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MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io · 36 pts · 270d (1 reply)

Well there goes the US’s chances of being a player in the sodium ion battery race. Our gov won’t support technological advancement while some rich fuck can milk an extant cash cow.

I mean we’ll still need lithium to transportation for its energy:weight properties but still. Hopefully this turns out to be a good thing.

Any bets on whether Musk or an oil company is gonna get the first subsidies to start a mine there?

Sorry for being a downer. I’ve been in a mood this year.

ameancow@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 270d

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VoodooAardvark@lemmy.zip · 30 pts · 270d (1 reply)

Anyone who lived through the 90s knows that natural disaster movies were as prolific as super hero movies have been for the last 20 years… and Pierce Brosnan is too old to save us from another volcano

myrmidex@belgae.social · 5 pts · 270d

Linda Hamilton was kick-ass in the latest Terminator movie. I bet she can still get shit done.

itsgroundhogdayagain@lemmy.ml · 24 pts · 270d (3 replies)

This is a super hero origin story in the making. Or villain. I'm going with villain.

Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club · 9 pts · 270d

Yeah, it's not a hero story, no.

vateso5074@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 270d (1 reply)

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MonkeMischief@lemmy.today · 6 pts · 270d

"There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world."

--Gandalf the Grey

not_me@piefed.social · 17 pts · 270d (2 replies)

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ameancow@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 270d

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Waraugh@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 270d

I have a bunch in my house

thefluffiest@feddit.nl · 11 pts · 270d

Great news for Americans’ mental health

GaryGhost@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 270d (10 replies)

Apparently the lithium is very shallow and so I hope this means that we wouldn't cause an active super volcano. They are worried about changes to the landscape but what about pollution? I guess that depends on where they process the lithium. Also why would anyone think they have claim to the deposit when the government wants it?

Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 270d (4 replies)

This gives me an idea.

Buy a ton of lithium
Buy a plot of land with no good use
Bury a ton of lithium in spots that look like they would be good sample sites
Wait 5-10 years for nature to erase any previous digging activities
Find some company to survey the land and then sell the land to someone for a ton of profit

Fedizen@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 269d

There's I think at least two dollops about guys who did this.

ErrorCode@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 270d (2 replies)

Wasn't that the basic plot of a Gilligan's Island episode (except with oil)?

Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 270d (1 reply)

Is it? I haven't watched all of the Gilligan's island episodes, I don't think I have seen more than a couple.

Which episode was it?

ErrorCode@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 269d

There was one where Mr. Howell gives Gilligan some land, then they hear on the radio there is oil there, Howell takes it back, only to find out it was just a buried tanker. Hilarity ensues. That is all I remember. I don't think I have watched any episodes in about... um, so many years.

ameancow@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 270d (4 replies)

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P00ptart@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 269d (2 replies)

You forgot the step after the government seizing the land... They sell it for pennies to a mega corporation.

AA5B@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 268d (1 reply)

And after the pre plays out, the land is abandoned back to the government, is listed as a superfund site so the government is in the hook to clean up the pollution

P00ptart@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 268d

But they just erect a fence around it.

Fedizen@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 269d

There is almost nothing we could do short of apocalyptic nuclear demolition charges in very strategic places that could possibly trigger a supervolcano, and even then I doubt we could do more than create some kind of vent that would reduce the chances of a supervolcano.

This is exactly what somebody would say before they anger a volcano god and get Pompei'd

ElectricAirship@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 7 pts · 270d (1 reply)

I have been to McDermitt a few times... It's a very interesting place for amateur geologists bc of the abundance of different gemstones.

It is a beautiful desert biome as well.

krashmo@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 270d

Not for long. Capitalists about to do more stripping in that caldera than your mom does on Tuesday nights down at the Beaver Barn.

FuglyDuck@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 270d

So goodbye Yellowstone.

hark@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 270d

Gonna hafta blow it to get all the lithium out.

gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 270d

Hey wait a second this is the plot of Project Wingman