International strategic minerals inventory summary report; lithium

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 930-1

Prepared as a cooperative effort among earth-science and mineral-resource agencies of Australia, Canada, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America

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U.S. GEOlOGICAl SURVEY CIRCULAR 930-1

Prepared as a cooperative effort among earth-science and mineral-resource agencies of Australia, Canada, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MANUEL LUJAN, Jr., Secretary

Federal Center, Box 25425 Denver, CO 80225

Earth-science and mineral-resource agencies from several countries started the International Strategic Minerals Inventory in order to gather cooperatively information about major sources of strategic mineral raw materials. This circular summarizes inventory information about major deposits of lithium, one of the mineral commodities selected for the inventory.

The report was prepared by Terrance F. Anstett and Joyce A. Ober of the U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) and Ulrich H. Krauss and Helmut W. Schmidt of the Federal Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) of the Federal Republic of Germany. It was edited by David M. Sutphin and transcribed by Dorothy J. Manley of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Lithium inventory information was compiled by Terrance F. Anstett, Derik Cloete, Geological Survey of South Africa; Ulrich H. Krauss (chief compiler), and Ian McNaught, Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources. Additional contributions to the report were made by Sigrid Asher-Bolinder, USGS; Aldo F. Barsotti, USBM; John H. DeYoung, Jr., USGS; Christoph Kippenberger, BGR; W. David Sinclair, Energy, Mines and Resources Canada (EMR), Geological Survey of Canada; and Antony B.T. Werner (EMR), Mineral Policy Sector.

TABLES

v INTERNATIONAL STRATEGIC MINERALS INVENTORY SUMMARY REPORT

By Terrance F. Anstett, Ulrich H. Krauss/ Joyce A. Ober,and Helmut W. Schmidtl

The reliability o_f future supplies of so-called strategic minerals is of concern to many nations. This widespread concern has led to duplication of effort in the gathering of information on the world's major sources of strategic mineral materials. With the aim of pooling such information, a cooperative program named International Strategic Minerals Inventory (ISMI) was started in 1981 by officials of the governments of the United States, Canada, and the Federal Republic of Germany. It was subsequently joined by the Republic of South Africa, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

The objective of ISMI reports is to make publicly available, in convenient form, nonproprietary data and characteristics of major deposits of strategic mineral commodities for policy considerations in regard to the short-term, medium-term, and long-term world supply. Part I of this report provides a summary statement of the data compiled and an overview of the supply aspects of lithium in a format designed to be of benefit to policy analysts and geologists. Knowledge of the geologic aspects of mineral resources is essential in order to discover and develop mineral deposits. However, technical, financial, and political decisions must be made, and often transportation and marketing systems must be constructed before ore can be mined and processed and the products transported to the consumer; the technical, financial, and political aspects of mineral-resource development are not specifically addressed in this report. The report addresses the primary stages in the supply process for lithium and includes some considerations of lithium demand.

The term "strategic minerals" is imprecise. It generally refers to mineral ore and derivative products that come largely or entirely from foreign sources, that are difficult to replace, and that are important to the nation's economy, in particular to its defense industry.

Usually, the term implies a nation's perception of vulnerability to supply disruptions and of a need to safeguard its industries from the repercussions of a loss of supplies.

Because a mineral that is strategic to one country may not be strategic to another, no one list of strategic minerals can be prepared. The ISMI Working Group decided to commence with chromium, manganese, nickel, and phosphate. All of these studies, plus the study of platinum-group metals, cobalt, titanium, and natural graphite have now been published. Additional studies on lithium (this report), vanadium, tungsten, tin, and zirconium have been subsequently undertaken.

The data in the ISMI lithium inventory, some of which are presented in Part II of this report, were collected from April 1987 to September 1988. The report was submitted for review and publication in March 1989. The information used was the best available in various agencies of the participating countries that contributed to the preparation of this report. Those agencies were the Bureau of Mines and the Geological Survey of the U.S. Department of the Interior; the Geological Survey and the Mineral Policy Sector of the Canadian Department of Energy, Mines and Resources; the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources of the Federal Republic of Germany; the Geological Survey and the Minerals Bureau of the Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs of South Africa; the Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics of the Australian Department of Primary Industries and Energy; and the British Geological Survey, a component of the Natural Environment Research Council of the United Kingdom.

No geologic definition of a deposit (or district) is used for compiling records for this report. Deposits (or districts) are selected for the inventory on the basis of their present or expected future contribution to world supply. Records of all deposits compiled by ISMI participants meet this general "major deposit" criterion and are included in the inventory. Because the assignment of a specific number of records to the lithium resources of a district or even of a nation was not done with the same detail by all compilers, comparisons among numbers of lithium records in different geographic areas or among numbers of lithium records and those records of other commodities reported on in this series are not meaningful.

The ISMI record collection and this report on lithium have adopted the international classification system for mineral resources recommended by the United Nations Group of Experts on Definitions and Terminology for Mineral Resources (United Nations Economic and Social Council, 1979; Schanz, 1980). The terms, definitions, and resource categories of this system were established in 1979 to facilitate international exchange of mineral-resource data; the Group of Experts sought a system that would be compatible with the several systems already in use in several countries. Figure 1 shows the U.N. resource classification used in this report. This report focuses on category R1, which covers reliable estimates of tonnages and grades of known deposits. The familiar term "reserves," which many would consider to be equivalent to rlE or R1E, has been interpreted inconsistently and thus has been deliberately avoided in the U.N. classification.

It should be noted that generally until a deposit has been extensively explored or mined, its size and grade are imperfectly defined. In many cases, actual deposit size will prove to be significantly larger, sometimes even several times larger, than was thought when the decision to mine was made. Experts with a sound knowledge of a deposit and its geologic setting might infer that the deposit extends beyond the bounds reliably established up to that time. Tonnage estimates for such inferred extensions fall into category R2. For major deposits, ISMI records show R2 estimates in the few cases for which they are readily available. Category R3, postulated but undiscovered resources, is not dealt with in this report.

Mining recovery from an ore body depends on individual conditions and may vary considerably, typically in the range of 75 to 90 percent for underground mining; that is, 10 to 25 percent of the in-place resources cannot be extracted.

Lithium, a silvery white metal, is the lightest solid element at normal temperatures. Its chemical symbol is Li, and its atomic number is 3. Lithium belongs to the alkali metal group. Some physical and chemical properties of lithium are listed in table 1.

End uses. -Lithium possesses a unique combination of chemical and physical properties. For this reason, it is being used in an increasing number of manufacturing processes, mostly in the form of lithium compounds and mineral concentrates and to a lesser extent in its elemental form. Some of these compounds find application as ingredients in final products and others as additives that do not change the final product but that make the production process more efficient. Table 2 shows the lithium content of important lithium chemicals and their primary uses. Several aspects of lithium uses and supply are especially noteworthy:

• Addition of lithium carbonate (Li2C03 , having 18.8 percent lithium) or lithium ores to ceramics and glass is currently the world's leading consumption of lithium. Glass and ceramics produced with lithium have high strength and low thermal expansion, and lithium replaces toxic lead in enamels and glazes. The presence of lithia (Li20, having 46.5 percent lithium) in glass and ceramics also reduces melting temperatures, thereby reducing energy consumption and increasing production (Carroll and Angelo, 1983). High-grade lithium-mineral concentrates having low iron content are gaining popularity as raw materials in the container and bottle-glass industry. While providing the lithia needed for the extra strength it imparts, the ores are also a source of alumina and silica, both necessary ingredients in glass.
• The aluminum industry is another large consumer of lithium. Lithium carbonate is added to the aluminum salt bath of aluminum potlines to increase the electrical conductivity and to lower the temperature of the bath, resulting in increased cell capacity and reduced power consumption (Cheney, 1983). Aluminum companies are also beginning to produce aluminum-lithium alloys that could be used in the aircraft and aerospace industries. These alloys con-Figure 3 shows the materials flow from pegmatites

Other lithium compounds 17.2 percent

and brines to the major products. Materials flow is an important factor in the economics of the lithium market, because for all products except glass and ceramics, lithium carbonate is the main intermediate chemical.

The largest consumption of lithium occurs in the glass, ceramics, and enamel industry, followed by the lubricants and grease industry and the primary aluminum industry. These three segments represent more than 80 percent of total lithium consumption. More than 46 percent of total consumption is in the glass, ceramics, and enamels industry, which is the only major sector using natural mineral concentrate. Lithium carbonate or downstream lithium compounds are required as starting materials in more than 85 percent of total lithium consumption.

Many lithium occurrences are known throughout the world. Only about 15 deposits are currently producing; however, several others are available for future development. Locations of producing deposits and other important world occurrences are shown in figure 4.

Four types of lithium enrichments (deposits) can be distinguished: pegmatites, brines, greisenized granites, and lithium-rich clays such as hectorite and saporite and stevensite. Major lithium deposits in this report are either pegmatite or brine deposits, although significant lithium resources in clays are known (Industrial Minerals, 1987, p. 25). Greisenized granites, once a major source of lithium, are no longer important in western countries. They may still be mined in the Soviet Union at Sherlovaya Gora and also in the Transbaikalia region. Figure 4 shows the locations of 29 pegmatite deposits, representing 34 inventory records, and 5 locations of brine deposits, representing 5 inventory records. Figure 4 also indicates the size of the deposits or deposit groups at each location. There are two very large (greater than 1 million metric tons of contained lithium in total reported resources) locations and inventory records, both of which are brines. The eight large (from 100,000 to 1

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... million metric tons of contained lithium in total reported resources) locations represent 12 inventory records all of which are pegmatite deposits. The six medium (from 10,000 to 100,000 metric tons of contained lithium in total reported resources) locations represent six inventory records (four pegmatite deposits and two brine deposits), and the six small (less than 10,000 metric tons of contained lithium in total reported resources) locations represent a like number of pegmatite deposits. The sizes of 12 pegmatite deposits and 1 brine deposit, represented by 11 map symbols, are unreported.

Pegmatites.- Lithium-bearing pegmatite deposits are widespread throughout the world and can be divided into two categories: zoned or unzoned. Zoned deposits contain spodumene and other economically important lithium minerals such as petalite, lepidolite, eucryptite, and amblygonite (see table 3) that are segregated into a series of different compositions and textures (Norton, 1973, p. 367). A typical pegmatite deposit contains about 20 percent spodumene, 41 percent feldspar, 32 percent quartz, 6 percent muscovite, and 1 percent trace minerals (Ferrell, 1985a, p. 463). In such pegmatites, spodumene crystals may be over 3 feet in length. Low-iron spodumene concentrates are produced mainly from zoned pegmatites. Bikita, Zimbabwe, which produces petalite with some spodumene, lepidolite, and amblygonite, and Manono-Kitotolo, Zaire, are localities having large zoned pegmatite deposits.

Unzoned pegmatite deposits contain ~podumene that is evenly distributed throughout; the rock is said to be homogeneous. Unzoned pegmatites are by far the most important pegmatitic source of spodumene, which may make up to 25 percent of the rock. Deposits of this type include the Kings Mountain and Bessemer City operations in the United States and Koralpe in Austria.

Lithium pegmatite deposits generally range from 1 to 50 million metric tons of ore containing from 0.59 to

1. 36 percent lithium. They are mined mostly from the

surface, although the mine at Bernie Lake, Canada, is worked from underground. Grinding, crushing, and flotation produce concentrates of 75 to 80 percent spodumene, with feldspar, quartz, and mica byproducts. Production of lithium carbonate is complete~ by use of a sulfuric acid process and reaction with sodium carbonate. Total carbonate recovery yields 55 to 70 percent of the contained lithium.

Brines.-Like other alkali metals, lithium is dissolved through chemical weathering. In closed basins, especially in areas of high evaporation, lithium may be concentrated in subsurface brines or in specialized clay minerals. Lithium-rich brines are generally associated with desert basins in areas of rocks of Tertiary to Holocene ages. Some investigators suggest, implicitly, that geothermal activity may make brines a renewable resource. However, significant regeneration does not occur within the timespan of economic planning.

The size of major brine deposits generally ranges from 200 million to 1.3 billion metric tons, and the grade ranges from 0.015 to 0.125 percent lithium. Brine deposits in the ISMI lithium inventory are Salar de Hombre Muerto, Argentina; Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia; Salar de Atacama, Chile; and Silver Peak and Searles Lake in the United States.

At Silver Peak, lithium brines are exploited by pumping them to solar evaporation ponds in which they are concentrated by a factor of about 20. This process produces a chloride solution containing about 0.6 percent lithium from which lithium carbonate is precipitated by the addition of soda ash (Ferrell, 1985a, p. 464). Byproducts of brine operations are commonly boron and (or) potassium.

Mineral resources normally are assessed and classified in different categories of geologic assurance and economic recoverability. Unfortunately, it is not possible to appraise lithium resources in this way as it would Not all of these countries disclose figures about their production. For more than 75 percent of world production, it is necessary to make estimates and assumptions. The United States, representing over 60 percent of the world total production, can provide no official production figures. Virtually no information is available regarding production in centrally planned economy countries, especially the Soviet Union.

Despite such incomplete information, it is estimated that in the past several years world lithium production averaged about 7,000 metric tons annually. About 25 percent of the world total originated in centrally planned economy countries, specifically China and the Soviet Union. In the 7 years from 1980 to 1986, market economy countries produced between 67 percent and 76 percent of the world total. Of that percentage, the portion of production from developing countries rose from 7 percent at the beginning of the decade to about 18 percent in 1986. Mine-production estimates are given in table 8.

The most striking feature in this table is the high concentration of production among a few countries such as United States, the Soviet Union, China, and Zimbabwe. In the last 2 or 3 years, however, new production facilities have been developed in Australia, Canada, and Chile. This has led to a more diversified supply, although the concentration of the supply in a small number of countries remains significant.

Production capacity. -In 1986, world production of lithium was about 7 ,800 metric tons, about 73 percent of world production capacity. Table 9 shows estimated production capacity for various important world lithium producers. For several operations, including those in Brazil, China, the Soviet Union, and Zimbabwe, actual capacities are not known. Figures shown in table 9 are based on recent production levels.

Of the total 10,520 metric tons of world lithium production capacity, United States operations account for the largest portion, almost 6,000 metric tons, or about 54 percent. However, Cyprus-Foote Mineral Company's Kings Mountain operation in North Carolina, with a production capacity of 1,540 metric tons or 14 percent of the total, is currently on careand-maintenance status and is unlikely to again produce significant amounts of lithium unless prices and demand increase substantially.

Brine operations, which are expected to become an increasingly important source of lithium, presently account for 2,560 metric tons capacity, or 24 percent of the world total.

Production costs.- The small number of lithium producers worldwide, and the fact that brines and pegmatites have widely varying economic and technological attributes, makes it neither possib!e, nor desirable, to present average production costs among the various producers. Furtltermore, in countries such as China certain costs, specifically transportation and wages, are not directly attributable to the operation, so that total production costs are not reflected in the sales price. A brief discussion of some important cost considerations is warranted.

Lithium carbonate is produced from both brines and pegmatites. In terms of the cost to obtain lithium carbonate, brines are significantly less expensive. Although there are only a few operations from which to compare figures, and individual component costs vary from operation to operation, the total cost of producing lithium carbonate from a brine source is estimated to be roughly 75 percent of the cost of producing it from a pegmatite deposit.

With respect to individual processing costs for a typical open-pit pegmatite mine in the United States, an average cost breakdown has been estimated. The cost of mining is approximately equal to the cost of crushing and beneficiation with each constituting about 16 to 17 percent of the total processing costs. The remainder is attributable to chemical processing.

Competition among operations producing the same products such as lithium carbonate or spodumene concentrates is an important factor in determining market share. However, there is increasing competition between lithium carbonate producers and concentrate producers to supply certain markets. In the manufacture of ceramics and glass, the use of spodumene and petalite concentrates instead of lithium carbonate may result in cost savings and technological advantages. It is estimated that demand for 4,535 metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent in the glass and ceramics industry is currently met by concentrate producers. In the future, another 3,200 to 3,600 metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent may be supplied through concentrates.

Although the recent decline of the world manufacturing economy has resulted in lower lithium consumption, there are several prospects for growth in the demand for lithium.

• In the ceramics and glass industry, lithium is starting to be used in container glass; previously lithium was used almost exclusively in shock-resistant glassware.
• New applications may be found in the manufacture of aluminum, a major lithium-demand sector. Older potlines use lithium to increase energy efficiency, but new energy-efficient potlines may use lithium to remove impurities from the melt, hence enhancing environmental control.
• The consumption of lithium in batteries is relatively minor, but the prospects for future growth are favorable.
• Use of aluminum-lithium alloys in the aircraft industry has been widely publicized, but at present major growth in this area has yet to occur. In 1985, lithium producers were operating at

approximately 70 percent of capacity, and the U.S. Bureau of Mines forecasted that lithium demand would

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grow at 4.5 percent annually (Ferrell, 1985a, p. 469). Although the aluminum industry seems to be recovering from a recent slump, and there are prospects for future growth in some sectors, it is estimated that the growth of lithium demand will be somewhat lower than was previously predicted, probably on the order of 2 percent to 4 percent. Figure 5 compares two demand scenarios (2 percent and 4 percent) with current production capacity. At 4-percent growth, capacity is sufficient to fill demand until approximately 1995; at 2-percent growth, capacity can meet expected demand until approximately 2005.

In the United States, however, Cyprus-Foote Mineral Company's Kings Mountain operation, with an annual production potential of 1,540 metric tons, was placed on standby in mid-1986, suggesting that prices are not high enough to allow development of additional pegmatite deposits. Unless special production incentives are made available to prospective operators of undeveloped pegmatites, it is unlikely that other pegmatites will be developed in the near future. A recent survey (Bleiwas and Coffman, 1986) evaluated seven undeveloped Canadian pegmatite deposits containing a total of 76 million metric tons of mineralized material averaging

0. 63 percent Li20. Lithium recovery from the least

costly of these potential operations would be approximately two to three times more expensive than from the Bernie Lake operation.

Although use of spodumene and petalite concentrates in place of lithium carbonate in glass and ceramics manufacturing may result in an increasing share of concentrate production to that market sector, it seems that current concentrate producers will be capable of meeting that demand. Furthermore, within the lithium carbonate sector, it is possible that producers will shift some production to brines, from which lithium carbonate can be produced at lower cost than from pegmatites.

Table 10 shows recent and proposed future capacity of lithium operations for which expansion and developments have been announced or projected. By the early 1990's, there could exist nearly an additional 4,000 metric tons of annual lithium production capacity if these plans are implemented.

Present and probable future production of lithium from major deposits included in the International Strategic Minerals Inventory are shown in figure 6 (p. 26).

In terms of lithium-resource availability, present economically viable resources are more than sufficient to meet likely demand in the foreseeable future_. In times of excess capacity such as currently exist, some pegmatite operations cannot compete with the lower costs of brine operations. Thus, there is an increasing tendency to develop new brine operations instead of pegmatite operations. A notable exception is the recent development of pegmatites by Lithium Australia Limited, which offers low-iron lithium concentrates to the glass and ceramics industry.

A further production shift from pegmatites to brines will result in the concentration of supply in a few countries such as Chile and the United States. This could lead to dependence of industrialized countries on deliveries from these sources.

Tables 11 and 12 contain information from the International Strategic Minerals Inventory record forms for lithium deposits and districts. Only selected items of information about the location and geology (table 11) and mineral production and resources (table 12) of the deposits are listed here; some of this information has been abbreviated.

Summary descriptions and data are presented in the table as they were reported in the inventory records. For instance, significant digits for amounts of production or resources have been maintained as reported. Data that were reported in units other than metric tons have been converted to metric tons for comparability. Some of the data in the table are more aggregated than in the inventory records, such as cumulative production totals that for some mines have been reported by year or by groups of years. Some of the abbreviations used in the inventory records have been used in these tables; they are explained in the headnotes.

(}fl INTERNATIONAL STRATEGIC MINERALS INVENTORY

Figure 6. Major lithium deposits and districts, their present production status, and their probable production status in 2025. Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of records (deposits and districts) for each location. Location names are from tables 11 and 12.

930-B. Chromium (1984) 930-C. Phosphate (1984) 930-D. Nickel (1985) 930-E. Platinum-Group Metals (1986) 930-F. Cobalt (1987) 930-G. Titanium (1988) 930-H. Graphite (1988) 930-1. Lithium (1990)

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