globose need for lithium is skyrocketing , and many land are vie for authorisation in the ballooning market . luckily for the US , it looks like a tiptop - salty ( and very smelly ) lake in California is brimming with the desired metal . However , obtaining it might be easier state than done .
The lake in doubtfulness is the Salton Sea , an inland hypersaline lake in the Sonoran Desert , southerly California . The dead body of water has antecedently been described as an “ environmental disaster " as uttermost pollution has turned its sedimentsinto toxic dustwith a smelly odor of decompose egg .
In a welcomed modification of tune , discovery at the lake suggest it could help the US transition out from fossil fuel and towards renewable vigour systems involving batteries , of whichlithiumis a key ingredient .
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A satellite image of the Salton Sea In southern California on 1 May 2025.Image credit: Landsat/ NASA / USGS
The Salton Sea region could hold as much as 3,400 kilotons of Li , enough to support over 375 million batteries for electric vehicles , harmonise toan analysisby the US Department of Energy ( DoE ) published in November last year .
“ Lithium is vital to decarbonizing the economy and fit President Biden ’s goals of 50 per centum electric fomite adoption by 2030 , ” Jeff Marootian , Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy , say in astatement .
By looking at the geological story of the region , it ’s potential to see how the abundance of Li ended in the lake .
As per the DoE report , much of the alloy likely rise in the ring mountain ranges of the Imperial Valley , lithium - rich volcanic rocks and igneous violation from past geological activity , and water and sediments carried by the Colorado River .
Additionally , various other processes may have concentrated the lithium in the lake water , such as the vaporization of atomic number 3 - bearing water flowing into the basin and the leach of Li from rock by geothermal brine .
Many industrialists and politicians were very glad to hear about the news of huge atomic number 3 deposit in the region . California Governor Gavin Newsomhas vowedto call on the so - called “ Lithium Valley ” into a “ global hub for battery production , ” all while ameliorate the environmental health of the Salton Sea .
Nevertheless , there are some dubiousness about how to obtain the much - hyped resourcefulness from the lake .
Typically , the alloy is glean through the evaporative extraction of lithium - infused brines , which requires a lot of energy and infrastructure . Conversely , the plan lithium origin at the Salton Sea will progress on the substructure of existing geothermal power industrial plant . As it stands , blistering saltwater is pump from geothermally dynamic bed as deep as 2.5 kilometre ( 1.5 miles ) below the open . The steam from this seawater powers turbine to generate electricity , and afterward , the saltwater is returned to underground aquifer . The novel approach shot aim to extract lithium from the brine before it ’s reinjected .
There ’s just one job : no one has successfully processed atomic number 3 brine in this way before .
Although the fresh proposed method foretell to be greener than conventional means , some local resident are disturbed that the task could be usher through with urgency before the proper safety check are come across .
“ The industry and county were supposed to host a fortune of outreach encounter on the projects , but there have n’t been that many , and there has n’t been a individual one conducted all in Spanish . That ’s a substantial problem because many residents only speak Spanish . Meanwhile , the approval seem tight - tracked . No one knows what ’s go away on , and there ’s been little attempt to correct that , ” Daniela Flores , executive director of the Imperial Valley Equity and Justice Coalition , told theCal Alumni Association .
