Posted by Emme on April 21, 2002, at 19:22:33
In reply to Re: lepidolite 101, posted by Emme on April 21, 2002, at 9:18:02
Hi All,
At the risk of boring you to tears, I looked up some more info on Li sources. Another hard lithium-bearing silicate mineral called spodumene has also been mined as a commercial ore.
Also, precipitation of Li carbonate from brines has become a commercially viable option in some places. (see below). Brines are hydrothermal waters that have leached a lot of dissolved solids from the rocks through which they pass. If you evaporate the water, you precipitate out salts. Of course any lithium-containing salts precipitated this way would contain lots of other stuff and need refining. Below I've stuck in some excerpts I pulled off the web. I guess mood-disordered people aren't considered a major end-user of Li products. ;)
Sorry if it's a bit too much detail - it's a bit off-subject medication-wise. I guess I got a little carried away. Okay, I'll shut up for the moment.
Emme
From : http://www.ghedwards.com/im.htm
On October 29, 1996, Sociedad Minera Salar de Atacama S.A., or MINSAL successfully precipitated lithium carbonate from brine extracted from its Salar de Atacama operation in northern Chile. From plant groundbreaking in February to the first commercial shipments in December, the lithium project was two months ahead of schedule and matched the target budget of $51m. The following article discusses the metamorphosis of the lithium market, the MINSAL project as well as the company itself, and the impact of these developments on the world lithium market.
Also, from http://www.amm.com/ref/lithium.HTM
LITHIUM
World mine output: 15,000 tonnes
U.S. consumption: 2,800 tonnes
U.S. exports: 700 tonnes
Price: $4.47/kg (Lithium carbonate)In descending order of production, the world's largest lithium chemical producers in 1999 were Chile, China, the United States, Russia, and Argentina. Australia and Canada were major producers of lithium ore concentrates.
In terms of use, the United States remained the leading consumer of lithium minerals and compounds. It also was the leading producer of value-added lithium materials....In 1999, the only active lithium carbonate plant in the United States was at a brine operation in Nevada. Two other mines in North Carolina were closed in 1986 and 1998. Subsurface brines have become the primary raw material for lithium carbonates due to lower production costs than those for hard-rock ores (spodumene and lepidolite).... Ore concentrates, rather than lithium carbonate and compound feedstock, accounted for the majority of world mined lithium minerals consumption....World oversupply has kept lithium carbonate prices depressed for the past three years, according to the USGS.
End-uses for lithium compounds are in ceramics, glass and primary aluminum production..... Other major end-uses are in the manufacture of lubricants and greases and in the production of synthetic rubber.....Lithium carbonate, rather than lithium metal, has been the focus of research recently for use in batteries for electric vehicles.
poster:Emme
thread:102373
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020416/msgs/103745.html