Geothermal Could Profit from U.S. Executive Order to Support Lithium Mining

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March 15, 2018

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by Alexander Richter (Think GeoEnergy) An executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump to support mining activities for critical minerals, could present a boost to lithium mining activities in the U.S. and indirectly help some geothermal projects.

As reported recently, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the relevant federal agencies to develop a strategy to reduce the United States’ reliance on foreign sources of “critical minerals” that are used to make products deemed essential to our country’s economic and national security back in December 2017. Lithium was named as one such mineral, as it’s crucial for producing the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles (EVs), consumer electronic gadgets, and energy-storage products.

So while this should directly benefit lithium miners, there is also an angle into the geothermal sector in the U.S. Struggling to reach previous geothermal activities, there are several mining firms looking into deriving Lithium from geothermal brine.

There are several projects in California and Nevada, that could profit from a further investor interest in Lithium derived from geothermal brine. READ MORE

U.S. Lithium Mining Could Get a Boost From President Trump’s Executive Order (Lincoln Journal Star/Motley Fool)

Critical mineral resources of the United States—An introduction (U.S. Geological Survey)

What will the Future Bring for Electric Vehicle Batteries? (ACT News)

Lithium mining firm Dajin Resources signs JV with geothermal developer in Nevada (Think GeoEnergy)

Excerpts from Lincoln Journal Star/Motley Fool/Beth McKenna: Investors should be aware of this under-reported move since it could have ramifications in the lithium space, which has been white-hot since 2016, though lithium stocks have pulled back in 2018.

It’s too soon to say which lithium companies could benefit, though possibilities include the world’s largest lithium producer, North Carolina-based Albemarle(NYSE: ALB), which has a lithium mining operation in this country, and one or more of the junior miners, such as Lithium Americas (NYSE: LAC), that are exploring the viability of mining lithium in the U.S.

Here’s what you should know.

A lithium brine mining operation: Lithium-containing brine is pumped from reservoirs that lay beneath ancient lake beds into huge above-ground evaporation ponds, which yields a concentrate that will be processed into lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, and various downstream lithium products.

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The impetus for the directive was a report by the U.S. Geological Survey that concludes that foreign sources provide at least 50% of our total needs for 21 out of 23 critical minerals, including lithium. Moreover, it spells out just how dependent we are on the Chinese to supply many of these minerals.

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We can’t know for sure what tact the Trump administration will want to take, though some political observers believe it could want to weaken environmental regulations in the name of “streamlining leasing and permitting processes as to expedite exploration, production, processing, reprocessing, recycling, and domestic refining of critical minerals.”

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The U.S., which once controlled the lithium mining industry, produced just 3% of the world’s lithium supply in 2015, according to Deutsche Bank, with Chile (37%), Australia (33%), Argentina (11%), and China (10%) dominating lithium production. READ MORE

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