California’s Salton Lake Sits on Top of World’s Largest Lithium Reservoir, Sparks Race To Extract Billion-Dollar Worth of White Gold

About 40 miles (64 kilometers)north of the California-Mexico border lies the landlocked body of water known as the Salton Sea. Considered the largest lake in California, the Salton Sea encompasses 378 square miles (979 square kilometers) in Imperial and Riverside counties.

This lake has become one of the most important wetlands for birds in North America, as it supports some of the region's highest levels of avian biodiversity. Aside from its significance in maintaining the balance of the ecosystem, the Salton Sea was also found to harbor other valuable treasures crucial in the manufacturing processes.

Search for White Gold

A few years ago, it was discovered that the Salton Sea has lithium stores, which could be enough to meet the local needs in the US. Since then, it has been swarmed by small and large companies looking for cost-effective ways to extract lithium. California Governor Gavin Newsom even described it as the Saudi Arabia of lithium mining.

However, a recent study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that the basin has even more lithium than previously estimated. Researchers assume there could be 18 million tons of extractable metal, enough to supply the US with its lithium demand for decades. This would make the reservoir the largest in the world, overtaking Chile, which currently stores nine million metric tons of lithium.

Each ton of lithium is currently priced at $29,000, making the metal reserve in the Salton Sea worth more than $540 billion. According to the Department of Energy (DOE), this supply could support more than 375 million electric vehicle batteries.

According to Jeff Marootian, principal deputy assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy, lithium is important in decarbonizing the US economy. It also significantly meets President Biden's goals of 50% electric vehicle adoption by 2030.

Three companies are competing to be the first one to tap into the lithium mine. Berkshire Hathaway Energy was given a $14.9 million grant in 2021 to study the potential of Salton Sea lithium in making lithium hydroxide. EnergySource also secured an investment to speed up the deployment of its extraction platform at the lake. Meanwhile, Controlled Thermal Resources has also announced its plan to construct a massive plant at the site.

The companies provided over 22 researchers with brine samples to analyze and determine a potential supply beneath the lake. The analyses confirmed that there are at least four million tons of lithium based on the area of the geothermal reservoir that has already been drilled.

Valuable Source of Lithium

Lithium is an essential component of batteries that power modern devices such as smartphones, electric vehicles, and solar panels. China has dominated the market for several decades because it refines about 90% of mined lithium.

This metal is known as 'white gold' due to its soft, silvery-white look. Most lithium is extracted from hard rock mines or underground brine reservoirs using CO2-emitting fossil fuels.

Unlike other lithium mines in the country, the Salton Sea is a site of geothermal activity that happens to hold a large amount of white gold. Because of this, companies can use steam plants to take high-pressure hot water from beneath the Earth and turn it into steam that drives generator turbines.