China has taken a powerful step forward in the global race for resources by discovering huge deposits of lithium. This discovery allowed the country to rise from sixth to second place in the world in terms of reserves of this strategic metal. This was reported by the Xinhua agency with reference to the Chinese Geological Survey.
Thanks to new discoveries, China's share of global lithium reserves increased from 6% to 16.5%. With this, the PRC bypassed such leading countries as Australia, Argentina and Bolivia. Chile remains in first place, but new discoveries consolidate China's position as one of the key players in the market.
A significant part of the new reserves is located in the west of the country, where a 2.8 thousand km long lithium belt was discovered. km In addition, the volume of resources in the mineral lakes of the Tibetan highlands has increased so much that China now ranks third in the world in terms of lithium deposits in deposits of this type.
Chinese scientists have also achieved a breakthrough in the technology of lithium extraction from lepidolite, a mineral rich in this metal. Previously, the processing of lepidolite was too complicated and expensive, but new methods have significantly improved the situation.
Lithium is a critical material for many industries:
- Electric vehicles: Batteries for electric cars are one of the main drivers of demand for lithium.
- Energy storage systems: strategically important for the transition to renewable energy sources.
- Mobile communications and medicine: Lithium is widely used in the production of portable electronics and medical devices.
- Nuclear power: used for some specific technologies.
