US steps away from flagship lithium project with Berkshire lithium EV criticalminerals USA mining
laid out an aggressive goal for the United States to produce more of its own minerals for the electric vehicle revolution in ways that respected the environment.
While the sum of money was relatively small for the mining world and the Salton Sea grant was for a pilot project, the tale of Berkshire's tangle with Washington shows how Biden's plan to shift the economy away from fossil fuels faces some significant technical and business challenges. Berkshire, however, is facing problems extracting lithium from Salton Sea geothermal brines, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the operation who declined to be identified so as not to jeopardise future relationships with the company.
From the start, Berkshire's challenge was twofold. First, it needed to separate lithium from that hot brine using a commercially unproven class of technology known as Direct Lithium Extraction, or DLE. Then it aimed to develop new technology to process that lithium into lithium hydroxide. The region's brine teems with lithium, calcium, sodium and other minerals that are very complex to separate, said Corby Anderson, who teaches metallurgy at the Colorado School of Mines.
But making hydroxide requires extra processing involving crystallisers and other specialized equipment. If and when Berkshire is able to extract the lithium from the Salton Sea brine, making carbonate would be less complicated and expensive than making hydroxide.
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