Electrification
The World’s Top 10 Lithium Mining Companies
The World’s Top 10 Lithium Mining Companies
Battery demand for electric vehicles, energy storage systems, and portable electronic devices is propelling lithium mining around the planet.
As a result, worldwide lithium production increased by 21% in 2021 compared to 2020 to approximately 100,000 metric tons.
The above infographic lists the world’s largest mining companies of the white metal by market capitalization.
Where Does Lithium Come From?
There are two primary sources to obtain lithium:
- Brine: Lithium brine deposits are accumulations of saline groundwater enriched in dissolved lithium. Although abundant in nature, only select regions in the world contain brines, mostly in South America.
- Mineral/Hard Rock: Lithium found in ‘hard rock’ is a part of minerals hosted in pegmatites, rock units formed when mineral-rich magma intrudes from magma chambers into the Earth’s crust. As the magma cools, water and other minerals become concentrated.
Lithium can also be extracted from lithium clays, but there’s still no commercial scale of production for this method of extraction.
Here’s a look at lithium resources and production by country:
Country | Mine Production (metric tons) | Reserves (metric tons) |
---|---|---|
🇦🇺 Australia | 55,000 | 5,700,000 |
🇨🇱 Chile | 26,000 | 9,200,000 |
🇨🇳 China | 14,000 | 1,500,000 |
🇦🇷 Argentina | 6,200 | 2,200,000 |
🇧🇷 Brazil | 1,500 | 95,000 |
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | 1,200 | 220,000 |
🇵🇹 Portugal | 900 | 60,000 |
🇺🇸 United States | Withheld | 750,000 |
🌐 Other countries | — | 2,700,000 |
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, four mineral operations in Australia, two brine operations each in Argentina and Chile, and two brine and one mineral operation in China accounted for the majority of global lithium production in 2021.
The Largest Lithium Miners
The world’s largest lithium producer, Albemarle Corporation, operates at the Chilean resource of Salar de Atacama in partnership with the second biggest producer, Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM). Salar de Atacama is home to almost a quarter of the world’s current supply of lithium and has been in operation since the 1980s.
Albemarle also has assets in Nevada, U.S., and Australia. Its Clayton Valley operation is the only source of lithium production in the United States.
Rank | Company | Market Cap (in billions $) |
---|---|---|
#1 | Albemarle | 33.9 |
#2 | SQM (Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile) | 29.6 |
#3 | Tianqi Lithium | 25.0 |
#4 | Ganfeng Lithium | 22.9 |
#5 | Mineral Resources Ltd. | 9.4 |
#6 | Pilbara Minerals | 8.6 |
#7 | Allkem | 6.5 |
#8 | Livent | 6.2 |
#9 | Sichuan Yahua Industrial | 4.8 |
#10 | Lithium Americas | 4.2 |
While Australia and Chile account for the majority of lithium supply, China has more than half of all capacity for refining it into specialized battery chemicals.
As part of the country’s efforts to dominate the clean energy metals supply chain, three Chinese companies are also among the top lithium mining companies. The biggest, Tianqi Lithium, has a significant stake in Greenbushes, the world’s biggest hard-rock lithium mine in Australia.
Lithium Supply Security
Between 2000 and 2010, lithium consumption in batteries increased by 20% annually. In the following decade, that figure jumped to 107% per year for batteries, with overall lithium consumption growing 27% annually on average.
Demand for lithium is forecast to almost triple by mid-decade from last year’s level, according to BloombergNEF.
Therefore, lithium supply security has become a top priority for tech companies in Asia, Europe, and the United States.
Electrification
Will Direct Lithium Extraction Disrupt the $90B Lithium Market?
Visual Capitalist and EnergyX explore how direct lithium extraction could disrupt the $90B lithium industry.
Will Direct Lithium Extraction Disrupt the $90B Lithium Market?
Current lithium extraction and refinement methods are outdated, often harmful to the environment, and ultimately inefficient. So much so that by 2030, lithium demand will outstrip supply by a projected 1.42 million metric tons. But there is a solution: Direct lithium extraction (DLE).
For this graphic, we partnered with EnergyX to try to understand how DLE could help meet global lithium demands and change an industry that is critical to the clean energy transition.
The Lithium Problem
Lithium is crucial to many renewable energy technologies because it is this element that allows EV batteries to react. In fact, it’s so important that projections show the lithium industry growing from $22.2B in 2023 to nearly $90B by 2030.
But even with this incredible growth, as you can see from the table, refined lithium production will need to increase 86.5% over and above current projections.
2022 (million metric tons) | 2030P (million metric tons) | |
---|---|---|
Lithium Carbonate Demand | 0.46 | 1.21 |
Lithium Hydroxide Demand | 0.18 | 1.54 |
Lithium Metal Demand | 0 | 0.22 |
Lithium Mineral Demand | 0.07 | 0.09 |
Total Demand | 0.71 | 3.06 |
Total Supply | 0.75 | 1.64 |
The Solution: Direct Lithium Extraction
DLE is a process that uses a combination of solvent extraction, membranes, or adsorbents to extract and then refine lithium directly from its source. LiTASTM, the proprietary DLE technology developed by EnergyX, can recover an incredible 300% more lithium per ton than existing processes, making it the perfect tool to help meet lithium demands.
Additionally, LiTASTM can refine lithium at the lowest cost per unit volume directly from brine, an essential step in meeting tomorrow’s lithium demand and manufacturing next-generation batteries, while significantly reducing the footprint left by lithium mining.
Hard Rock Mining | Underground Reservoirs | Direct Lithium Extraction | |
---|---|---|---|
Direct CO2 Emissions | 15,000 kg | 5,000 kg | 3.5 kg |
Water Use | 170 m3 | 469 m3 | 34-94 m3 |
Lithium Recovery Rate | 58% | 30-40% | 90% |
Land Use | 464 m2 | 3124 m2 | 0.14 m2 |
Process Time | Variable | 18 months | 1-2 days |
Providing the World with Lithium
DLE promises to disrupt the outdated lithium industry by improving lithium recovery rates and slashing emissions, helping the world meet the energy demands of tomorrow’s electric vehicles.
EnergyX is on a mission to become a worldwide leader in the sustainable energy transition using groundbreaking direct lithium extraction technology. Don’t miss your chance to join companies like GM and invest in EnergyX to transform the future of renewable energy.
Electrification
Chart: The $400 Billion Lithium Battery Value Chain
In this graphic, we break down where the $400 billion lithium battery industry will generate revenue in 2030.
Breaking Down the $400 Billion Battery Value Chain
As the world transitions away from fossil fuels toward a greener future, the lithium battery industry could grow fivefold by 2030. This shift could create over $400 billion in annual revenue opportunities globally.
For this graphic, we partnered with EnergyX to determine how the battery industry could grow by 2030.
Exploring the Battery Value Chain
The lithium battery value chain has many links within it that each generate their own revenue opportunities, these include:
- Critical Element Production: Involves the mining and refining of materials used in a battery’s construction.
- Active materials: Creating and developing materials that react electrochemically to allow batteries to charge and discharge.
- Battery cells: Involves the production of rechargeable elements of a battery.
- Battery packs: Producing packs containing a series of connected battery cells. Generally, these come in two types: NMC/NMCA, the standard in North America and Europe, and LFP, the standard in China.
- Recycling: Reusing battery components within new batteries.
But these links aren’t equal, each one is projected to generate different levels of revenue by 2030:
China 🇨🇳 | Europe 🇪🇺 | United States 🇺🇸 | Rest of World 🌍 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Total | $184B | $118B | $62B | $39B |
Critical Element Production | $37B | $25B | $15B | $8B |
Active Materials | $54B | $31B | $14B | $11B |
Battery Packs | $34B | $22B | $11B | $7B |
Battery Cells | $53B | $37B | $20B | $11B |
Recycling | $6B | $3B | $2B | $2B |
On the surface, battery cell production may contribute the most revenue to the battery value chain. However, lithium production can generate margins as high as 65%, meaning lithium production has potential to yield large margins.
How Much Lithium Is Available?
Just a few countries hold 81% of the world’s viable lithium. So, supply bottlenecks could slow the growth of the lithium battery industry:
Nation | Viable Lithium Reserves (2023) |
---|---|
Chile 🇨🇱 | 9.3M t |
Australia 🇦🇺 | 6.2M t |
Argentina 🇦🇷 | 2.7M t |
China 🇨🇳 | 2M t |
U.S. 🇺🇸 | 1M t |
Rest of World 🌍 | 4.9M t |
Supplying the World With Batteries
Supplying the world with lithium is critical to the battery value chain and a successful transition from fossil fuels. Players like the U.S. and the EU, with increasingly large and growing lithium needs, will need to maximize local opportunities and work together to meet demand.
EnergyX is on a mission to become a world leader in the global transition to sustainable energy, using cutting-edge direct lithium extraction to help supply the world with lithium.
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