China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Industrial minerals
Published in Francis P. Gudyanga, Minerals in Africa, 2020
Spodumene LiAl(SiO3)2, petalite LiAl(Si)4O10 and lepidolite K(Li,Al,Rb)3(Al,Si)4O10(F,OH)2 are the principal lithium pegmatite minerals with the last one being a lithium mica containing minor quantities of caesium, rubidium and fluorine. The Bikita pegmatite hosts the largest single accumulation of petalite, bikitaite |Li(H2O)| [AlSi2O6], yielding large petalite crystals. These complex pegmatites, one of the largest in the world, are rich in exotic constituents such as lithium, beryllium, tantalum and niobium. Bikitaite is a mineral within the fractures in the lithium-rich pegmatites and is associated with the minerals that include the following: eucryptite, quartz, petalite, feldspar, calcite, stibnite, allophone, albite and fairfieldite.
Toxic Responses of the Lung
Published in Stephen K. Hall, Joana Chakraborty, Randall J. Ruch, Chemical Exposure and Toxic Responses, 2020
The pyroxene group forms chains of (Si2O4)4− units bound together by covalent oxygen bonds. The commercially mined pyroxenes are spodumene and wollastonite. Spodumene, a comparatively rare mineral, is one of the commercial sources of lithium. Wollastonite is used in the ceramic industry, as a replacement for nonfibrous materials in brake linings, as an insulation for electronic equipment and thermal insulation such as mineral wool, and many other uses, There is no known disease associated with exposure.
Global Outlook on the Availability of Critical Metals and Recycling Prospects from Rechargeable Batteries
Published in Abhilash, Ata Akcil, Critical and Rare Earth Elements, 2019
Pratima Meshram, B.D. Pandey, Abhilash
Lithium is produced from a variety of natural sources, for example, minerals such as spodumene, clays such as hectorite, salt lakes, and underground brine reservoirs. Lithium is a minor component of igneous rocks, primarily granite. The most abundant lithium-containing rocks/minerals (Table 2.3) are pegmatites, spodumene, and petalite. Other minerals are lepidolite, amblygonite, zinnwaldite, and eucryptite (Ferrell, 1985). Zinnwaldite is the impure form of lepidolite with a higher FeO content (up to 11.5% Fe as FeO) and MnO (3.2%) (Paukov et al., 2010). Pegmatites contain recoverable amounts of lithium, tin, tantalum, niobium, beryllium, and other elements. The theoretical lithium content in these minerals is 3%–5.53%, but most mineral deposits have around 0.5%–2% Li and the pegmatite-bearing ores that are often exploited have <1% Li (Mohr et al., 2010). Spodumene is the primary lithium mineral being mined.
Review on lithium ion battery recycling: challenges and possibilities
Published in Geosystem Engineering, 2023
Namita Panda, Ana Belen Cueva-Sola, Arsyad Maulana Dzulqornain, Thriveni Thenepalli, Jin-Young Lee, Ho-Sung Yoon, Rajesh Kumar Jyothi
Lithium, the main component of LIBs, is principally mined in two ways. The first one is by extracting it from a hard silicate mineral known as spodumene (LiAl(SiO3)2), and the second is by evaporation of brine lake deposits containing lithium chloride (Goonan & Survey, 2012). In the earth crust, lithium is present at the concentration around 20 ppm, being more abundant than other common metals such as silver (Ag) and tin (Sn). Based on the resource, by 2013 lithium gathered 58% from brines and around 26% from spodumene coming from pegmatites. The biggest production of brine-based lithium is located in Chile, Argentina, China and U.S.A. Bolivia on the other hand has a massive brine deposit that is not yet exploited. On the other hand, Australia, Zimbabwe, and Brazil are the biggest producers of lithium from pegmatite deposits (U.S. Geological Survey et al., 2014). Figure 4 shows the statistics of lithium production in the world by countries in last five years with Australia being the biggest producer. Comparing both recovery processes, the mining process from spodumene requires more energy and cost than brine evaporation. The recovery of lithium from spodumene depends on extraction process while in evaporation, solar energy is used to concentrate the lithium (Goonan & Survey, 2012).
Recent pegmatite-hosted spodumene discoveries in Western Australia: insights for lithium exploration in Australia and globally
Published in Applied Earth Science, 2022
Zoe Phelps-Barber, Allan Trench, David I. Groves
Spodumene, as a naturally occurring compound source of lithium, is a critical raw material in the production of lithium-ion batteries. Lithium is pivotal to the proposed transition from fossil fuel to low carbon energy generation, with 71% of its use within lithium-ion batteries, although lithium is also used in ceramics (14%), lubricating greases (4%) and polymer production (2%) (USGS 2021). Global reserves are ∼83 Mt, increasing substantially from global reserves of 13.5 Mt in 2015, due to increased interest as lithium has become a critical metal (USGS 2015, 2021). Chile and Australia have a dominant share of known lithium reserves, 9.2 and 2.8 Mt, respectively (USGS 2021), with lithium sourced from brine deposits and hard rock pegmatites. Hardrock production of lithium can be achieved through the development of projects for which the mineral processing pathway to a lithium-bearing spodumene concentrate (typically 6%) is now well established (Aghamirian et al. 2012; Welham et al. 2017) and then further towards downstream Lithium Carbonate and Lithium Hydroxide value-added products.
Lithium Extraction from Spodumene by the Traditional Sulfuric Acid Process: A Review
Published in Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy Review, 2022
Javier Rioyo, Sergio Tuset, Ramón Grau
A number of authors have extensively reviewed the various lithium extraction and recycling methods (Cheminfo Services Inc 2012; Dessemond et al. 2019; Liu et al. 2019; Liu, Zhao and Ghahreman 2019; Meng et al. 2019; Meshram, Pandey and Mankhand 2014; Mishra and Majumdar 2017; Salakjani, Singh and Nikoloski 2019b; Talens Peiró, Villalba and Ayres 2013). To date, lithium has been extracted from two main sources: (a) ‘salars’ (dried salt lakes), and (b) pegmatites (mainly spodumene) (Mishra and Majumdar 2017). Currently, about 50% of the production is extracted from mineral ore deposits (Dessemond et al. 2019). Although lithium concentrations in brine are lower than those found in hard rock, the cost of lithium production from ore is generally higher than when produced from brines. This is due to the amount of energy consumption and materials required when lithium is produced from mineral ore (Terence 2020). The process can be more cost-effective if other high value elements are found in spodumene deposits along with lithium, residual lithium is recycled during mining and processing, and energy savings are achieved during the extraction process.