Lithium and copper resources for net zero

Martín Obaya, expert in Latin American lithium mining and supply chains at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council-Universidad Nacional de San Martín in Argentina, talks to Nature Energy about navigating lithium supply and demand, highlighting nuance in stakeholder expectations and the importance of research in this relationship.

The low-carbon transition needs batteries. And those need lithium. Fortunately, the metal is abundant, and science is getting better at finding, extracting and processing it.

The sustainable energy technologies that are required to achieve net-zero carbon emissions rely on critical metals. Pegmatite deposits are one of the world’s primary sources of these critical metals, which makes understanding their formation essential.

Cheaper and more sustainable batteries are key to decarbonize the global energy system, and sodium-ion batteries that use far fewer critical materials are an important option. Research now shows that rapidly improving techno-economics of sodium-ion batteries could soon make them competitive with lithium-ion phosphate batteries under a range of scenarios.

The formation of porphyry copper deposits in regions of thickened continental crust remains enigmatic. Insights from the Laramide Porphyry Province in Arizona suggest a link between shallow-slab subduction and copper mineralization.

Precipitation, solvent extraction, sorption, membrane-based separation and electrochemical-based separation are described as promising methods for extracting lithium from low-quality brines, which have extensive reserves and widespread geographical distributions.

Lithium is an essential resource for the energy transition, owing to its widespread use in rechargeable batteries. This Review describes the fresh water and chemical inputs, wastes and environmental impacts of direct lithium extraction technologies and how to manage them.

The magmatic processes required to form economic-grade porphyry Cu deposits are still poorly understood. This Review discusses the magmatic, redox and hydrothermal processes required for porphyry ore formation, revealing that both crustal thickness and depth of ore body emplacement can influence metal endowment.

Lithium mineralization in pegmatites preferentially occurs when emplaced within low-temperature rocks, according to samples from the Jiajika Li deposit, China. The temperature of country rocks may be an important parameter in Li-pegmatite endowment.

Laramide flat-slab subduction releases fluids into the overlying crust that mediate water-fluxed melting of precursor arc lower crust, ultimately forming porphyry copper deposits, according to a geochronology and thermobarometry study.

Titanium concentrations in zircon crystals reveal a link between the world’s largest copper resources and magmas with very high-water contents.

The enrichment of copper in magmatic hydrothermal fluids is influenced by the orientation of fault systems in arcs, according to geochemical analyses of gases and hot spring waters from active fumarole fields in the Southern Volcanic Zone of Chile.

A cost-based method to assess lithium-ion battery carbon footprints was developed, finding that sourcing nickel and lithium influences emissions more than production location. This aids in designing green industrial policy.

Battery recycling LCA shows that recycling can reduce 58% of environmental impacts of making mixed salt solutions compared to conventional mining. Electricity and hydrometallurgical processes dominate impacts and show improvement opportunities.

Sodium-ion batteries are considered a promising substitute for Li-ion, but the timeline and conditions for achieving cost-competitiveness remain uncertain. This study evaluates their techno-economic potential, showing that while challenging, they could compete with low-cost Li-ion batteries by the 2030s under specific conditions.

The global demand for lithium is projected to reach 1.93 million metric tons in 2050 compared to the demand in 2023, but the global implementation of recycling policies has the potential to reduce its consumption, as suggested by a bottom-up framework studying the projections of the global supply and demand of lithium for the next decades.