US Berkeley Lab to lead joint lithium exploration in California Salton Sea

The US Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California will lead a joint effort to "quantify and characterize" lithium resources in the underground hypersaline geothermal reservoir near the Salton Sea, it said Feb. 16.

The highly saline lake is in far-Southern California near the Mexican border.

"The Salton Sea geothermal field in California potentially holds enough lithium to meet all of America's domestic battery needs, with even enough left over to export some of it," Berkeley Lab said in a joint statement released with its project partners. "The project is the first comprehensive scientific effort to map out California's so-called 'Lithium Valley' and attempt to gain a detailed understanding of the mineral-rich underground brine at the Salton Sea geothermal system."

A Department of Energy laboratory managed by the University of California, Berkeley Lab will be joined in the study by researchers from the University of California at Riverside and Geologica Geothermal Group, and the project will be supported by $1.2 million in funding from the DOE's Geothermal Technologies Office.

The Salton Sea already hosts 11 commercial plants that produce geothermal energy by pumping hot fluids from underground for conversion into electricity, according to the statement.

"Normally the cooled fluid would simply be reinjected underground, but the idea is to first extract the lithium from the brine before injecting it back," Berkeley Lab said.

The project team will utilize electron microscopes and other advanced analytical tools to examine the mineral sources of lithium in the area and determine "whether the rocks will recharge the brine with lithium after it has been extracted from the produced fluids." The group will also investigate potential environmental impacts of lithium extraction.

"This project will provide critical insights about the subsurface that will help us secure a domestic lithium supply chain using the most environmentally responsible, data-driven pathway," said Alexis McKittrick, the program manager for hydrothermal resources at the Geothermal Technologies Office, in the statement.

UCR said the need for domestic lithium will be crucial as the world transitions to electric vehicles.

"An acute deficit looms in lithium supply," the university said in a separate statement. "The shortage could put the brakes on many automakers' plans to create all-electric inventory by 2035."