The race for lithium to the end of the earth

Meanwhile, claims about lithium have become as political as mineralogical. Aching to lose its dependency on a lithium supply chain dominated by China—which supplies 80 percent of the world’s

cell batteries and nearly 60 percent of its EV batteries—Donald Trump ordered an investigation into potential new tariffs on all US critical minerals imports in April and fast-tracked 10

mining projects, including two on lithium. The same month, the Export-Import Bank—the US government’s official export credit agency—sent a letter of interest worth $900 million to a company

to expand a mining project in Nevada, where the only lithium mine in the US has been operating since the 1960s. The $2-billion Thacker Pass project, supported by the US department of energy,

is to start operations in McDermitt Caldera in 2026. The US has a long way to go before it can catch up with China in the ‘Lithium Valley’. An Atlantic Council article partly explained why:

“According to a 2021 White House Report, the Chinese government funnelled $100 billion in subsidies, rebates, and tax exemptions to Chinese companies and consumers between 2009 and 2019 to

dominate the global lithium refining industry, before global demand for lithium soared.” Compounding geopolitics is the fact that many countries have lithium reserves, although few so far

have the technological wherewithal to mine it. According to the January 2025 USGS report, the largest resources are distributed as follows: Argentina, 23 million tons; Bolivia, 23 million

tons; Chile, 11 million tons; Australia, 8.9 million tons; China, 6.8 million tons; Canada, 5.7 million tons; Germany, 4 million tons; Congo, 3 million tons; Mexico, 1.7 million tons;

Brazil, 1.3 million tons; Czechia, 1.3 million tons; Mali, 1.2 million tons; Serbia, 1.2 million tons; Peru, 1 million tons; Russia, 1 million tons... .” These are the splinters that the US

wants out of its global foot.