As battery giants scale up lithium-ion production with mega factories and demand for raw materials is high. Companies already producing lithium are attempting to increase production. However, the majority of current production (both brine and hard-rock operations) are capacity constrained with geopolitical risk affecting some of the world’s major production areas.
GOLD
Argentina is the third largest producer of gold in South America. Any of the major rivers that drain from the heights of the Andes Mountains hold potential for placer gold deposits. Argentina is the only country that has observed such a dramatic rise in the recent years. And not only this, Argentina’s domestic gold mining industry is booming and continuing to grow at a rapid rate.
COBALT
Cobalt plays a key role in global sustainability mostly due to the popularity of electric vehicles. Nearly every automaker are racing to gain market share in electric vehicles. To store this electric energy, these companies choose lithium-ion batteries because of its scale and production cost.
The production process involves two distinct steps and is generally consistent with other established brine operations. The first step uses a solar evaporation process to concentrate lithium in the brine and precipitate competing salts in large-scale ponds.