Lithium

New research from the University of Sydney on the concentration and distribution of lithium in Australian soil has identified elevated levels in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

The Brazilian town of Vale do Jequitinhonha (MG), which stands out worldwide in mineral production, is the stage of a multisectoral program for the use of Brazilian lithium. The government is now exploring the opportunities of the area in the energy transition.

With the rapid growth in electric vehicle (EV) demand bringing fears of a mountain of EV battery waste piling up further down the line, the EU-Swiss government-funded Recirculate program is planning how to keep batteries in use for much longer before they head to recyclers.

A flurry of clean energy announcements in the European Union this year bodes well for the expansion of renewables but there will be a race against time to get key legislation adopted before next summer’s European elections.

The new EU Batteries Regulation is a blueprint for product legislation, regulating the whole life cycle of batteries in the European Union. Advanced rechargeable and lithium batteries association Recharge says successful implementation of the new regulation requires the prioritization of safety, information reliability, feasibility, market surveillance, and enforcement.

Quick and versatile, batteries are providing a growing number of services to homes, businesses, and on the grid. Electricity network operators are beginning to adopt grid-scale batteries, with the initial applications potentially opening the way for renewable energy to flow more freely and across larger distances than ever before.

Enel and Vulcan Energy are looking at the potential for lithium mining at a site near Rome.

The geothermal field beneath California’s Salton Sea contains brine that may hold from one to six million metric tons of lithium, an essential element for producing batteries. A Berkeley Lab study aims to evaluate the resource.

Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto’s ambition to become one of the world’s largest lithium suppliers has taken a battering with the Serbian government pulling the plug on the company’s $3.3 billion ($US2.4 billion) Jadar lithium-borates project.

The European Commission has published its second annual assessment of the competitiveness of the EU’s renewable energy technology industries, and it had a warning for policymakers about the trade balance trend being experienced by heat pump makers.