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A comment on Lithium discovery in US volcano could be biggest deposit ever found. Parent comment

Re:Lithium discovery in US volcano could be biggest deposit ... by iancmceachern on Sunday September 10, 2023 @12:08AM (#37452808)
A bit of both. I'm trying to say that it's not so cut and dry. Making lithium batteries and thr mining of lithium is a messy business. It's not a panacea. We need to be honest and realistic about the costs of doing that business, and often we arent.

75% of all aluminum every smelted is still in use today: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_recycling#:~:text=....

We need to get lithium to that level before we make any more big, environmentally hazardous mines.

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Re:Lithium discovery in US volcano could be biggest deposit ... by zaroth on Sunday September 10, 2023 @12:48AM (#37452987)
A chokehold on new mining of a crucial ore for renewables sounds like a terrible overall idea.

The lifecycle of the lithium that will come from this hypothetical mine is probably 20 years from now until the first time the material will be recycled.

The highly profitable recycling logistics will have been fully worked out a decade before it’s needed for a new mine’s output.

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Re:Lithium discovery in US volcano could be biggest deposit ... by iancmceachern on Sunday September 10, 2023 @01:29AM (#37453152)
This is reducto ad absurdum. I'm not proposing that.

I'm proposing we put equal effort into both. My expectation is that we don't currently.

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Re:Lithium discovery in US volcano could be biggest deposit ... by zaroth on Sunday September 10, 2023 @04:39AM (#37454018)
[delayed]
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Re:Lithium discovery in US volcano could be biggest deposit ... by iancmceachern on Sunday September 10, 2023 @05:33PM (#37460285)
Then why hasn't it been keeping up? It seems that lithium recycling is way behind exploration and mining. Why? It's highly profitable as you say, are there technology limitations?
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Re:Lithium discovery in US volcano could be biggest deposit ... by Sabinus on Sunday September 10, 2023 @10:43PM (#37462242)
There isn't enough material yet for a large robust recycling industry, and collection of small batteries is still an issue.
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