Mwalimu-G
Elder Lister
Iran claims to have unearthed massive lithium deposit: What the discovery could mean
Iranian officials claimed to have found a deposit containing 8.5 million metric tons of lithium ore in the country’s Hamedan Province. Lithium is a crucial raw material for the production of batteries, used in all kinds of electronic devices, from mobile phones to EVs.
By: Explained Desk
New Delhi | Updated: March 5, 2023 14:21 IST
https://kenyanlist.net/javascript%3Avoid(0)
A view of the city of Hamedan from the Alvand Mountain. The lithium reserves have been reportedly discovered in the province of Hamedan. (Wikimedia Commons)
Listen to this article
00:00
1x1.5x1.8x
A senior official in the Iranian Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade (MIMT) said on Monday that a deposit located in the western province of Hamedan contains some 8.5 million metric tons of lithium ore, PressTV, Iran’s state-owned news network, reported.
According to Ebrahimali Molabeigi, who leads MIMT’s exploration department, the discovery was made in western province of Hamedan and more such lithium ore deposits are expected to be discovered soon, PressTV reported.
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
If true, this discovery would be a major boost for Iran, whose economy has suffered under US sanctions and embargoes for decades. Given lithium’s salience in making batteries, any transition away from fossil fuels is expected to heavily rely on lithium. This is Iran’s first lithium find.
According to the US Geological Survey, the world’s largest identified lithium resources (not counting Iran) are as follows: Bolivia, 21 million tons; Argentina, 20 million tons; Chile, 11 million tons; Australia, 7.9 million tons; China, 6.8 million tons. India recently established inferred lithium resources of 5.9 million tons in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir.
The importance of lithium in today’s world
Lithium is ubiquitous in modern life, found in all kinds of electronic devices, from mobile phones to EVs – basically, anything that requires a rechargeable battery.
A battery is made up of an anode, cathode, separator, electrolyte, and two current collectors (positive and negative).
Lithium-ion batteries use aqueous electrolyte solutions, where ions transfer to and fro between the anode (negative electrode generally made of graphite) and cathode (positive electrode made of lithium), triggering the recharge and discharge of electrons.
Even promising alternatives to the lithium-ion batteries, such as QuantumScape Corp’s solid-state lithium-metal battery, continue to use lithium. This is primarily due to Lithium’s low weight as compared to other metals (such as nickel, used in traditional batteries) as well as its superior electrochemical potential.
Lithium has become especially valuable in the context of increasing climate concerns with the internal combustion engine and the rise of electric vehicles (EV) as an alternative. Currently, all EVs use lithium in their battery packs with demand set to rise exponentially over the coming decades.
A 2020 World Bank report on clean energy transition estimates that the production of minerals, such as graphite, lithium and cobalt, could increase by nearly 500 percent by 2050, to meet the growing demand for clean energy technologies.
What this reported discovery means for Iran
Since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which culminated with the overthrowing of the West-friendly Pahlavi dynasty and founding of the Islamic Republic of Iran under Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s relationship with the West has been acrimonious.
The first sanctions were imposed by the US in 1979, when 52 American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days after some radical students stormed the US embassy in Tehran. While sanctions were lifted in 1981, they were reimposed in 1987 in response to Iran’s actions “to support international terrorism”. Since then, the country has faced various sanctions from the US, the European Union and the UN, with their severity fluctuating depending on the international political climate.
These sanctions, used to try and influence Iran’s domestic policies such as its controversial uranium enrichment program, have over the years taken a toll on the Iranian economy and its people. They have hampered Iran’s ability to participate in the global economy, leaving the country with perennial shortages in all sorts of sectors, from food and consumer goods to technology.
In this context, the reported discovery of lithium ore will be a major boost. Mohammad Hadi Ahmadi, an official with the MIMT, hailed the precious metal’s tremendous export potential and its possible use by many domestic Iranian industries in a statement to the press on Friday.
Challenges that lie ahead
However, this discovery will not immediately be beneficial to Iran. According to Ahmadi, it will take about four years to prepare the lithium mines discovered in Qahavand Plain, Hamadan, for operation, with the deposits stretching across a five-six square kilometer area.
Crucially, Iran’s official statements have not mentioned the stage of prospecting or provided any technical information about the reserves yet. While Iran may very well have discovered lithium ore reserves, the true significance of the finding can only be assessed once more information about said reserves is released.
According to the United Nations Framework for Classification for Reserves and Resources of Solid Fuels and Mineral Commodities (UNFC 1997), resources are categorized using the three essential criteria affecting their recoverability:
According to the UNFC, “Reconnaissance study identifies areas of enhanced mineral potential on a regional scale based primarily on results of regional geological studies, regional geological mapping, airborne and indirect methods, preliminary field inspection, as well as geological inference and extrapolation. The objective is to identify mineralized areas worthy of further investigation towards deposit identification.”
.
It is likely that Iran’s discovery is also at this stage of categorisation. If that is the case, more work is required to establish the commercial viability of the reserves but also a setup where the mining can be carried out. Especially in the context of the economic embargoes Iran faces, this will be a challenge.
Iranian officials claimed to have found a deposit containing 8.5 million metric tons of lithium ore in the country’s Hamedan Province. Lithium is a crucial raw material for the production of batteries, used in all kinds of electronic devices, from mobile phones to EVs.
By: Explained Desk
New Delhi | Updated: March 5, 2023 14:21 IST
https://kenyanlist.net/javascript%3Avoid(0)
Listen to this article
00:00
1x1.5x1.8x
A senior official in the Iranian Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade (MIMT) said on Monday that a deposit located in the western province of Hamedan contains some 8.5 million metric tons of lithium ore, PressTV, Iran’s state-owned news network, reported.
According to Ebrahimali Molabeigi, who leads MIMT’s exploration department, the discovery was made in western province of Hamedan and more such lithium ore deposits are expected to be discovered soon, PressTV reported.
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
If true, this discovery would be a major boost for Iran, whose economy has suffered under US sanctions and embargoes for decades. Given lithium’s salience in making batteries, any transition away from fossil fuels is expected to heavily rely on lithium. This is Iran’s first lithium find.
According to the US Geological Survey, the world’s largest identified lithium resources (not counting Iran) are as follows: Bolivia, 21 million tons; Argentina, 20 million tons; Chile, 11 million tons; Australia, 7.9 million tons; China, 6.8 million tons. India recently established inferred lithium resources of 5.9 million tons in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir.
The importance of lithium in today’s world
Lithium is ubiquitous in modern life, found in all kinds of electronic devices, from mobile phones to EVs – basically, anything that requires a rechargeable battery.
A battery is made up of an anode, cathode, separator, electrolyte, and two current collectors (positive and negative).
Lithium-ion batteries use aqueous electrolyte solutions, where ions transfer to and fro between the anode (negative electrode generally made of graphite) and cathode (positive electrode made of lithium), triggering the recharge and discharge of electrons.
Even promising alternatives to the lithium-ion batteries, such as QuantumScape Corp’s solid-state lithium-metal battery, continue to use lithium. This is primarily due to Lithium’s low weight as compared to other metals (such as nickel, used in traditional batteries) as well as its superior electrochemical potential.
Lithium has become especially valuable in the context of increasing climate concerns with the internal combustion engine and the rise of electric vehicles (EV) as an alternative. Currently, all EVs use lithium in their battery packs with demand set to rise exponentially over the coming decades.
A 2020 World Bank report on clean energy transition estimates that the production of minerals, such as graphite, lithium and cobalt, could increase by nearly 500 percent by 2050, to meet the growing demand for clean energy technologies.
What this reported discovery means for Iran
Since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which culminated with the overthrowing of the West-friendly Pahlavi dynasty and founding of the Islamic Republic of Iran under Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s relationship with the West has been acrimonious.
The first sanctions were imposed by the US in 1979, when 52 American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days after some radical students stormed the US embassy in Tehran. While sanctions were lifted in 1981, they were reimposed in 1987 in response to Iran’s actions “to support international terrorism”. Since then, the country has faced various sanctions from the US, the European Union and the UN, with their severity fluctuating depending on the international political climate.
These sanctions, used to try and influence Iran’s domestic policies such as its controversial uranium enrichment program, have over the years taken a toll on the Iranian economy and its people. They have hampered Iran’s ability to participate in the global economy, leaving the country with perennial shortages in all sorts of sectors, from food and consumer goods to technology.
In this context, the reported discovery of lithium ore will be a major boost. Mohammad Hadi Ahmadi, an official with the MIMT, hailed the precious metal’s tremendous export potential and its possible use by many domestic Iranian industries in a statement to the press on Friday.
Challenges that lie ahead
However, this discovery will not immediately be beneficial to Iran. According to Ahmadi, it will take about four years to prepare the lithium mines discovered in Qahavand Plain, Hamadan, for operation, with the deposits stretching across a five-six square kilometer area.
Crucially, Iran’s official statements have not mentioned the stage of prospecting or provided any technical information about the reserves yet. While Iran may very well have discovered lithium ore reserves, the true significance of the finding can only be assessed once more information about said reserves is released.
According to the United Nations Framework for Classification for Reserves and Resources of Solid Fuels and Mineral Commodities (UNFC 1997), resources are categorized using the three essential criteria affecting their recoverability:
- Economic and commercial viability (E).
- Field project status and feasibility (F).
- Geological knowledge (G).
According to the UNFC, “Reconnaissance study identifies areas of enhanced mineral potential on a regional scale based primarily on results of regional geological studies, regional geological mapping, airborne and indirect methods, preliminary field inspection, as well as geological inference and extrapolation. The objective is to identify mineralized areas worthy of further investigation towards deposit identification.”
.
It is likely that Iran’s discovery is also at this stage of categorisation. If that is the case, more work is required to establish the commercial viability of the reserves but also a setup where the mining can be carried out. Especially in the context of the economic embargoes Iran faces, this will be a challenge.
