Happy Monday! This week, we will review new developments in pegmatite lithium from the Appalachians and celebrate the lifetime success of a structural geologist.
Rasoul Sorkhabi
Editor, Core Elements
Lithium from the Appalachian Pegmatites
USGS
The U.S. Geological Survey has released a resource assessment report on the amount of lithium from pegmatite rocks in the Appalachian Mountains.
Lithium comes from:
Pegmatites
Lithium clays
Mine tailings
Brines
Pegmatite sources: Pegmatite is an igneous rock hosting lithium-rich minerals, such as spodumene, lepidolite, petalite, and zinnwaldite.
These minerals may contain lithium in the thousands of parts per million.
Lithium is produced by:
China (five rocks and four brine mines)
Australia (seven rocks)
Canada (two rocks)
Argentina (two brine)
Chile (two brine)
Brazil (one mine tailings)
Zimbabwe (one rock)
In the United States, there is a brine operation in Nevada and another in Utah.
Resource geography:
The published assessment covered the Northern Appalachian Mountains in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
A future USGS report will address the Southern Appalachianstates of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
What researchers did:
USGS scientists used the available geological, geophysical, geochemical, and mining datasets to create permissive tracts.
For each tract, they used the Delphi method to estimate and rank potential undiscovered deposits and economic tonnage.
How much lithium is there in the Northern Appalachians?
The study estimated the amount of undiscovered lithium oxide from pegmatites that can be economically extracted as 90,000 metric tons at a 90-percent confidence level.
These resources are concentrated in Maine and New Hampshire.
How much lithium is there in the Southern Appalachians?
Another assessment report for the Southern Appalachian states estimates 1.4 million metric tons of lithium oxide at a 90-percent confidence level.
These deposits are concentrated in North Carolina and South Carolina.
Why it matters:
The U.S. imports almost all of its lithium, mainly from China (54 percent) and Argentina (43 percent).
USGS estimates that the combined lithium resources from the Northern and Southern Appalachians will be sufficient to replace 328 years of U.S. imports at the 2025 level.
Lithium demand will increase at least 48-fold by 2040 due to electric vehicle production and energy storage needs.
What has not been reported: The USGS report does not address the mining issues associated with extracting these resources, including:
How much rock must be blasted and crushed
How much land degradation from open-pit mining and possible wildlife loss will occur
How much water will be consumed for mining
How much water and environmental contamination the operations and mining could cause
Few petroleum provinces have transformed as rapidly — or attracted as much global attention — as Mozambique’s offshore basins.
Join AAPG on 21 May at 8am for a free in-depth webinar exploring the geology, exploration history, and future potential of this emerging petroleum province with one of the geoscientists helping shape its development from within.
.png?upscale=true&width=220&upscale=true&name=Rasoul-Sorkhabi-Headshot-Signature%20(1).png)
