{"id":30716,"date":"2023-03-06T14:36:11","date_gmt":"2023-03-06T14:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=30716"},"modified":"2024-02-19T10:34:24","modified_gmt":"2024-02-19T10:34:24","slug":"how-can-australias-lithium-production-meet-increasing-global-demand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/how-can-australias-lithium-production-meet-increasing-global-demand\/30716\/","title":{"rendered":"How can Australia’s lithium production meet increasing global demand?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 requires an unprecedented acceleration to the current global roll-out of renewable energy infrastructure, which includes solar and wind turbine \u2018farms,\u2019 electrification of transport systems, and extensive and widespread clean energy storage capacity. The latter is largely reliant on lithium-ion batteries and is fuelling a boom in lithium production and mining.<\/p>\n
Lithium is used in a wide range of applications, from pharmaceuticals to glass and ceramics manufacturing, but by far, its biggest use currently is in battery technologies which have increased from 22% of global lithium end use in 2013 to 74% in 2022.<\/p>\n
The list price for lithium carbonate has increased by a factor of ten in the last two years and shows little sign of backtracking in the near future. Global demand for lithium by 2040 is expected to be between 40 and 60 times higher than the 2020 production rates. However, forecast modelling by the International Energy Agency and S & P Global predicts a significant global shortfall of lithium within the next several years. The implications of this should not be underestimated: it represents a critical threat to reaching net zero targets.<\/p>\n
Australia is currently the world\u2019s largest lithium producer, has an established lithium production sector, and has immense geological potential for further discoveries of ore deposits that can feed the world\u2019s lithium hunger. However, there remain significant challenges to realising this potential, which we outline below. Beforehand, it is worthwhile reflecting on the broader supply chain risks of lithium and other so-called critical minerals.<\/p>\n
It seems \u2018critical minerals\u2019 are the new buzzwords across many sectors of society, from academic, government, the minerals industry, and mainstream media. And \u2013 as is so often the case \u2013 the term tends to be used loosely, often with little regard to a precise definition or meaning. Nonetheless, there are two universal factors that define a critical mineral:<\/p>\n
1) The mineral (or metal or commodity) is crucially needed by society, which increasingly relates to enabling the clean energy transition; and
\n2) There is a substantial risk to the ongoing supply of the mineral.<\/p>\n
These risk factors may relate to social, environmental, and geological factors but are dominantly geopolitical. An insufficient supply of any critical mineral would have significant economic, security, and quality-of-life impacts on societies.<\/p>\n
Critical minerals are mainly assessed based on current production, but it is worthwhile examining the situation in terms of mineral reserves (i.e. recognised in-ground resources that are feasible to mine) if we are to consider the longer-term goals to 2050.<\/p>\n
In Fig. 1 below, we have plotted mineral reserve data for various countries for key critical minerals (taken from the US Geological Survey mineral commodity summaries for 2022<\/a>) against measures of countries\u2019 stability and freedom, represented by the Fragile States Index<\/a>, and the Economic Freedom Ranking<\/a>.<\/p>\n These are rankings of countries based on their records and performance in economic and social freedom, prosperity, human rights, political stability, corruption, and environmental stewardship, among others. The bubble size represents the percentage of the world\u2019s reserves held by that country, and the measures of a fragile state and economic freedom are indicators of fragility to the ongoing supply of these metals.<\/p>\n