Hey Chris, I live in NC about 90 miles from the spodumene (lithium) and tin belt that runs through Cleveland, Gaston and Lincoln Counties. The Foote Mineral Company was a huge producer prior to its closure some years ago. As a mineral collector, we use to love visiting the quarry for the associated lithium and phosphates that the mine is famous for. The other big lithium mine is in neighboring Gaston called the LCA mine. It had allot of nice specimens as well. I hear that Elon Musk has invested in a new lithium mine near the LCA and its just getting started. We use to find spodumene (lithium aluminum inosilicate) in the area pegmatites sometimes even in road construction cuts, etc. The striated crystals and cleavages were usually tan to white sometimes light greenish to yellowish hues. A small amount of it was gemmy. Then there is the famous Hiddenite occurrence in Alexander county with the chromium rich variety of spodumene, hiddenite which was named after W.E. Hidden. The hiddenite was also associated with the finest North American emeralds as well.
Very interesting stuff. When I was young I used to kick around the pegmatites of San Diego county and found some nice spodumene even with pink/lavender color (Kunzite).
Hi @Brad Stoner, I wonder if you can identify ones around here? We are in Caldwell county and a piece of earth dropped away from our cliff/hill and now we wonder what we are looking at? We do have gold and emeralds near us, but this looks like lithium and mica and iron? Want to invite you to visit us near lenoir nc
Re: 11:10 Australian company Neometals, who have a factory in Germany have a lithium battery recycling factory. The process separates the components of the battery cathode and recycles them. Mercedes Benz has invested as a partner in the factory for the refined output offtake. This is in effect as of a few months ago, the Mercedes agreement came into effect last week.
You are wrong. You should read the actual press release from Neometals. In their own words in the factory that is NOT YET BUILT is to be a "long-term research and development collaboration". Large scale R&D paid for by another business (Mercedes) is NOT the same as an actual recycling plant. What I said in the video is just as true today as it was when I recorded it.
I really appreciate this. I can't find this type of valuable information in my country MX. There are sooo many different types of precious metales and minerals here. Now I can happily classify some on my free time.
Enjoyed your presentation.I actually lived in Greenbushes in the SW of Western Australia,it has the largest and most purest deposit in the world and have been mining it since 1988.They started out as a tin miner in the late 1880,started mining tantalum in the 1960s but now its just lithium and tantalum which is also the largest deposit in the world.Apparently it's fairly common to find these 3 minerals together at least over here.
Lithium, Tin, Tantalum, niobium, beryllium and others are fairly common metal associations with pegmatite deposits (Greenbushes are in that deposit type). Gemstones like tourmaline and Beryl are also frequently in pegmatites.
Hi, Chris! I really appreciate your content. Very thoroughly explained. I have a suggestion. I think it will be nice to make a video about pegmatites, especially about granitic pegmatites and exotic minerals in them (beryl, tourmaline, topaz, etc.). Also, I think it will be interesting to talk about indicators of pegmatite pockets. This is very interesting topic, but nobody on TH-cam thoroughly covered it. I am very grateful for your content. Great support and good luck! Greetings from Serbia!
Great info. I remember watching my hs chemistry teacher take a piece of lithium and dropping it into a glass jar of water. Watched it dance around on the water like a fireball until it evaporated. Great learning experience! Also, if you haven't already heard about it Jeff Williams gave your book a shout-out on his most recent TH-cam video.
@@ChrisRalph here in Australia they used to have lithium in a jar of clear oil in science class, literally cut it with a knife. They threw it into a trash can lid of water and it sizzled then made a significant boom. Kinda reminded me of lead to look at.
A video about different sorts of nickel deposits (sulfides vs laterites), and the difference between class 1 and class 2 nickel, would be cool. Or did you do a nickel video and I missed it? Back to lithium -- I understand there is lots of lithium in the McDermit Caldera, up on the Nevada-Oregon border. Clay type I think? How did that Li get there -- leaches out of the ash, or something? Is it safe to assume that Nevada, Oregon, and Idaho YHS calderas have all been prospected? Although come to think of it, the Idaho calderas in Snake River Plain are all buried by more recent volcanism, if memory serves. There is a cluster of calderas up in NW Nevada. Wonder if those have been prospected. There would be a lot more rhyolite domes to check out in, e.g., NE Oregon, if it weren't for all that stupid flood basalt.
I am working on a Nickel and Cobalt video. Many rhyolites have some lithium, the alkali dry lakes and clay / hectorite are both derived from their weathering.
@@ChrisRalph - That Northmet deposit in Minnesota sure is interesting. Is there a general consensus in the industry as to whether Polymet is going to win the various court cases? I'm sure Tesla is keeping a close watch on that, and would give them a fat contract for the nickel.
That Kunzite in the main photo is so nice! My favorite minerals ..Spodumene, and lithium pegmatites are amazing. I`d quit mining gold if I could mine peg minerals every day ....Good Video Chris!
@@waltonkanguatuuako2682 good day brother. Namibian here. How can we connect. I'm in Windhoek. Are you perhaps on the "Emerging Mining group (Namibia)?
I don't know. I guess I would prefer my gas engine 4×4. It gets me where I need to go and I don't have to look for a electric outlet and a cord. And just how long does it take to charge a vehicle fully and how long will the charge last.
yes but the government is going to declare your evil fossil fuel fired car a danger to society and make sure you cant buy gasoline for it - or if you do it will be $50 a gallon. The real goal - gas or electric is that only the very rich will be able to afford their own automobile. That is how it is in parts of Europe already.
I might ride electric bike but I'm not going to ride no electric car I really like this topic I've always been interested in hydroelectric power stations always wanted a mini one in my yard somewhere I watched a lot of videos on how to build stuff like that keep up the good work man love the vid.
The government is going to declare your evil fossil fuel fired car a danger to society and make sure you cant buy gasoline for it - or if you do it will be $50 a gallon with taxes. The real goal of controlling gas or electric vehicles is that only the very rich - multi millionaires - will be able to afford their own automobile. That is how it is in parts of Europe already. That is the extreme socialist scheme the voters of the USA want.
I agree with you totally but I think I would want to design my own type of electric car and I would put the batteries back up where the engine goes and design a much safer firewall.
Awesome, thank you. Given the area I operate in, for me it is still productive to prospect for Li bearing pegmatites simply because such little fieldwork has been done.
When I lived in Wyoming, I heard of an area by Sundance, Wy. Or the northeast corner of Wyoming that had discovered some rare earth deposits. Not sure if lithium was one but have you heard of this deposit.??????
I’m very curious why the great salt lake being a high salty lake and what remains of the larger lake Bonneville isn’t the largest resource in the us. It seems like it should be full of lithium. Much of the lake bed has recently been evaporated due to the long drought. Seems a layer of lithium should be just sitting there waiting to be processed near the shore.
The lithium in the dry lakes that have it come from the weathering of certain types of rocks. The rocks surrounding the great Salt Lake are not of the right type to contribute lithium.
I've known about lithium since god knows when. I was on lithium for a while, but it didn't work for me, so I have a bunch of lithium carbonate I've repurposed for chemistry experiments. I recycle my lithium batteries on my own too.--typically I convert it to lithium oxalate if it isn't in metallic form, which is the case for most of them. A good sized glove box and an argon gas atmosphere is a good investment if anyone gets as deep into home based battery recycling.
@@ChrisRalph At this time, I just collect it, which I know is lame. I plan sometime in the future to make an attempt to reduce it to lithium metal through electrolysis of lithium chloride and potassium chloride. It's pretty dangerous and requires a lot of work as well as further investment into proper equipment.
@@ChrisRalph Another thing, as you mentioned in your video, is dealing with the other metals like cobalt and nickel. There is copper too depending on the type of lithium cell. I personally form the safest and least soluble compounds I can form for storage. I am backlogged on chemical waste, so I'm not doing anything new at this time. This furthers your point on lithium battery recycling and why there isn't much incentive for companies to recycle. It's a sad reality.
Chris, thanks for producing this video, a tremendous amount of great information. Heading out to Nevada in the near future. In the next few weeks, hoping to go gold prospecting in east Tennessee. Keep up the good work!
Hi Chris. Thanks for all this information. Love your work! You've said in several videos that you always read your video comments, so I hope you do read this one :) I've recently started researching Lithium and rare earth elements to help me in picking resource sector stocks for investing in. One of the questions I have is how do I know if a particular ore grade is good or bad - for example you mention Greenbushes in Australia having 2.4% Lithium. What's the best grade know so far, and at what point is the grade likely to indicate that it's not worth mining? I know this is a big ask, but would you be able to do a video (or point me to some existing website) that discusses what min/max grades for each of the various precious elements would make a core sample indicative of a good or bad mining opportunity? I've been trying to search for this info with little success thus far, and it would great to know how to read company test drilling reports in order to identify a good investment. Thanks.
Its not as simple as you suspect. Lithium and rare earths are bulk metals with comparatively low value per pound. Making your won will no be economic unless you do it on a huge scale with a multi million dollar investment.
Hi Chris I found a Mineral deposit while looking for gold that looks loaded with Battery metals including Lithium but I don't know if the Values are high enough to bother with can I send you the ALS report for an opinion ??
I appreciate your interest, but I do not offer any services for consulting or advisement. I get many such requests and simply do not have time to help all who ask. I have many business and family commitments and simply don't have the time available. Sorry.
There are different lithium products and they have different buyers. Do some research on Google to find a buyer of the lithium product you are making. All buyers have standards that your product must meet.
Here's in Serbia people demonstrate against Rio Tinto because of ecology. We have me mineral Jadarit where is litium and Bor. People think they will destroy rivers and ground. Whole eco system. For extracting Li need lots of acid and water. What do you think professor? What technology is safest for extracting Li, in Serbia?
I'm looking forward to your uranium prospecting video. I've got autunite which was given to me from currentlytrockhounding, and I have some carnotite which I only recently discovered what it was a couple years after collecting it from rockhounding. I believe the host rock with the carnotite contains some vanadinite as well, but I need to find that specimen and examine it further under the microscope.
There has been Lithium mining in Nevada for decades. The problem with the new methods under development in Nevada is just tweaking the process to make it profitable. Not really an EPA problem.
I just heard Comstock Mining bought into a lithium recycler located at the Reno-Sparks industrial park. Not sure if this is a ligit recycler or research project.
A company named CTR, and a spot called ,"Hell's Kitchen"( a very geothermal location at the southern end of the Salton Sea in CA,) and GENERAL MOTORS ,and some $$$$$$$$,,, will be extracting Li from the geothermal brine. They'll be turning steam turbine gensets and extracting Lithium. GM is investing heavily in EV tech. Should be interesting.
No, because you need to purify the lithium before selling it. Gold and silver can be sold impure to refiners, and no one buys lithium ores direct from miners.
A Power Purchase Agreement between Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) and ," The agreement consists of a 25-year term to supply Imperial Irrigation District with 40 megawatts of geothermal energy from the Hell’s Kitchen facility, located at the foot of the Salton Sea in the region’s internationally recognized “Salton Sea Known Geothermal Resource Area.” The geothermal power facility is expected to be operational in 2023 and will coincide with the development of CTR’s integrated direct lithium extraction and conversion facility (Hell’s Kitchen LithiumCo)." ........ Supposed to be lots of Li in that brine.
Sir I am today going to British old gold mining in india . Today I am very happy gold nuggets finding plz your email address send me sir . I send mining picture sir.
Hi Chris. i love your video. but yiu never mentioned Nigeria. we have very high deposits of Lithium and the Chinese are everywhere in Nigeria because of Lithium
Great video m8, love learning about the different mineral compositions. Made a wierd 10hr long video of just waves on Lake Michigan to play while we sleep, check it out if that would be of interest. Like to get out to AZ NM area to prospect this year, so looking forward to those videos also. Cheers Ralph.
There is a lithium mine in cedar City Utah also right off of highway 14. But I think there doing it illegal because there is no name of the business mine all private vehicles.
They are only just proposing a pilot scale test plant - they are not a producing operation. The technology is new and largely untested. We shall see what happens - it may or may not be economic.
Oh and he does not lie, when he says he replies to your questions. I have asked a couple questions quite awhile ago now, and some recent ones. He replied to even my dumb questions years ago. But I live in a different country that may be very different. I didnt realize this at first.
Hey Chris, thanks for sharing so much valuable information. Do you have any advice for a young engineer interested in getting started in the mining industry? It seems like commodity production is going to define the next decade for the world. thank you.
Great videos! Keep up the great content! Can you do a video on the modern proposed mining at Thacker Pass in regards to the environmental impact, good or bad?
Good in what sense? Probably not really harmful to the environment. Companies are working on perfecting how to extract the lithium from the clay. To my knowledge, no on is yet extracting lithium for commercial production with clays.
Chris Ralph, Professional Prospector I didn’t think it was harmful here in America where our EPA is the strictest in the world, now China, India, Iran, Russia that’s a whole different story. I was just curious because of the America hating Commies protesting Thacker Pass right now. They never protest Communist countries.
That's right chris, The recycling of the lithium ion battries is your grandkids problem. I don't have kids. Not my problem lucky me. Several dry lake beds in central south oregon come on up let's test,and mine them out.
Read the articles very carefully and listen to what I said. From on of the articles: "JB Straubel's Redwood AIMS to extract lithium, cobalt and nickel from old batteries". As I said on the video, several companies are working on a process and trying to develop a business - JB Straubel is one of them. Its not that the chemistry is unknown, its that its not economic at this time. That is why no one is doing it yet.
Fracking is 1000X more eco friendly than Quarry mining in other countries where they refuse to reclimate, or if they do, it’s just a landfill for windmills since they’re too expensive to fix.
I don't understand how mass production of yet another limited resource (and if it isnt now, it will be soon) can possibly be considered a "green" alternative. .unless the green they are referring to is the monetary benefit that the same handful of people will reap. Cmon! Noone wants an electric car. If you do, youre lying or have never driven a Corvette.
They are potentially valuable for other materials and metals. As this point there are many doing R&D, no one is doing a for profit business of recycling.
And just watch. The Government will start to change us a fee for recycling batteries but they will still end up in the ocean in some other 3rd world country. Just you all wait and see. Government efficiency at it's best.
The USA - this is not today, mind you, but in the next 15 years or so. In Calif, all new cars and light trucks sold in the state must be electric by 2035. Biden's EPA is requiring that half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 to be zero-emissions vehicles - ie. electric. New Gas vehicles will become more and more expensive until you cant afford them or you wont be able to buy gasoline.
Hey Chris, I live in NC about 90 miles from the spodumene (lithium) and tin belt that runs through Cleveland, Gaston and Lincoln Counties. The Foote Mineral Company was a huge producer prior to its closure some years ago. As a mineral collector, we use to love visiting the quarry for the associated lithium and phosphates that the mine is famous for. The other big lithium mine is in neighboring Gaston called the LCA mine. It had allot of nice specimens as well. I hear that Elon Musk has invested in a new lithium mine near the LCA and its just getting started. We use to find spodumene (lithium aluminum inosilicate) in the area pegmatites sometimes even in road construction cuts, etc. The striated crystals and cleavages were usually tan to white sometimes light greenish to yellowish hues. A small amount of it was gemmy. Then there is the famous Hiddenite occurrence in Alexander county with the chromium rich variety of spodumene, hiddenite which was named after W.E. Hidden. The hiddenite was also associated with the finest North American emeralds as well.
Very interesting stuff. When I was young I used to kick around the pegmatites of San Diego county and found some nice spodumene even with pink/lavender color (Kunzite).
@@ChrisRalph hello Mr Chris I am nyasha magadhi a young prospector from zimbabwe
Hi Chris, I am in Lusaka Zambia Africa I have tested Lithium ore at 5%
Hi @Brad Stoner, I wonder if you can identify ones around here? We are in Caldwell county and a piece of earth dropped away from our cliff/hill and now we wonder what we are looking at? We do have gold and emeralds near us, but this looks like lithium and mica and iron? Want to invite you to visit us near lenoir nc
Re: 11:10 Australian company Neometals, who have a factory in Germany have a lithium battery recycling factory. The process separates the components of the battery cathode and recycles them. Mercedes Benz has invested as a partner in the factory for the refined output offtake. This is in effect as of a few months ago, the Mercedes agreement came into effect last week.
You are wrong. You should read the actual press release from Neometals. In their own words in the factory that is NOT YET BUILT is to be a "long-term research and development collaboration". Large scale R&D paid for by another business (Mercedes) is NOT the same as an actual recycling plant. What I said in the video is just as true today as it was when I recorded it.
You are a great teacher. Thanks so much for your time!!!
Glad you enjoyed it! You are so welcome!
I really appreciate this. I can't find this type of valuable information in my country MX. There are sooo many different types of precious metales and minerals here. Now I can happily classify some on my free time.
Glad it was helpful!
Enjoyed your presentation.I actually lived in Greenbushes in the SW of Western Australia,it has the largest and most purest deposit in the world and have been mining it since 1988.They started out as a tin miner in the late 1880,started mining tantalum in the 1960s but now its just lithium and tantalum which is also the largest deposit in the world.Apparently it's fairly common to find these 3 minerals together at least over here.
Lithium, Tin, Tantalum, niobium, beryllium and others are fairly common metal associations with pegmatite deposits (Greenbushes are in that deposit type). Gemstones like tourmaline and Beryl are also frequently in pegmatites.
Hi, Chris! I really appreciate your content. Very thoroughly explained. I have a suggestion.
I think it will be nice to make a video about pegmatites, especially about granitic pegmatites and exotic minerals in them (beryl, tourmaline, topaz, etc.). Also, I think it will be interesting to talk about indicators of pegmatite pockets. This is very interesting topic, but nobody on TH-cam thoroughly covered it.
I am very grateful for your content. Great support and good luck!
Greetings from Serbia!
It's on my list and I will probably do something like that in the coming months.
Great info. I remember watching my hs chemistry teacher take a piece of lithium and dropping it into a glass jar of water. Watched it dance around on the water like a fireball until it evaporated. Great learning experience! Also, if you haven't already heard about it Jeff Williams gave your book a shout-out on his most recent TH-cam video.
I did see that on Jeff's video.
@@ChrisRalph here in Australia they used to have lithium in a jar of clear oil in science class, literally cut it with a knife. They threw it into a trash can lid of water and it sizzled then made a significant boom. Kinda reminded me of lead to look at.
Here in PA a few companies that clean brine water from shale gas wells are beginning to separate the lithium.
That is interesting to know.
A video about different sorts of nickel deposits (sulfides vs laterites), and the difference between class 1 and class 2 nickel, would be cool. Or did you do a nickel video and I missed it?
Back to lithium -- I understand there is lots of lithium in the McDermit Caldera, up on the Nevada-Oregon border. Clay type I think? How did that Li get there -- leaches out of the ash, or something?
Is it safe to assume that Nevada, Oregon, and Idaho YHS calderas have all been prospected? Although come to think of it, the Idaho calderas in Snake River Plain are all buried by more recent volcanism, if memory serves.
There is a cluster of calderas up in NW Nevada. Wonder if those have been prospected.
There would be a lot more rhyolite domes to check out in, e.g., NE Oregon, if it weren't for all that stupid flood basalt.
I am working on a Nickel and Cobalt video. Many rhyolites have some lithium, the alkali dry lakes and clay / hectorite are both derived from their weathering.
@@ChrisRalph - Cool. I look forward to it.
@@ChrisRalph -
That Northmet deposit in Minnesota sure is interesting. Is there a general consensus in the industry as to whether Polymet is going to win the various court cases? I'm sure Tesla is keeping a close watch on that, and would give them a fat contract for the nickel.
Thank you! I'm going to translate the process of lithium prospecting in Kazakhstan for Korean geologists and I hope this video will help me out.
Sounds good and I hope things go well.
That Kunzite in the main photo is so nice! My favorite minerals ..Spodumene, and lithium pegmatites are amazing. I`d quit mining gold if I could mine peg minerals every day ....Good Video Chris!
I shot that pic at Tucson a few years back. Glad you enjoyed the video.
I'm interested in mining lithium
@@odufumarvelous9420 we are looking for investors for lithium EPL mine, based in Namibia, Africa.
@@waltonkanguatuuako2682 good day brother.
Namibian here. How can we connect. I'm in Windhoek. Are you perhaps on the "Emerging Mining group (Namibia)?
@@ChrisRalph ✝ THANKS FOR ALL THE HARD WORK WE TAKE FOR GRANTED.
G-D BLESS HAVE A BLESSED REST OF THE DAY.
I don't know. I guess I would prefer my gas engine 4×4. It gets me where I need to go and I don't have to look for a electric outlet and a cord. And just how long does it take to charge a vehicle fully and how long will the charge last.
yes but the government is going to declare your evil fossil fuel fired car a danger to society and make sure you cant buy gasoline for it - or if you do it will be $50 a gallon. The real goal - gas or electric is that only the very rich will be able to afford their own automobile. That is how it is in parts of Europe already.
Superb
Thank you!
Very educated, how would your sample sheet for lithium look like
Have it tested by a laboratory.
looking for a test for lithium----something simple---as my test for gold with acid and stannus---?
Testing for lithium is more complex.
Cool wide open market. Answered my question. Thanks.
Glad to help!
I might ride electric bike but I'm not going to ride no electric car I really like this topic I've always been interested in hydroelectric power stations always wanted a mini one in my yard somewhere I watched a lot of videos on how to build stuff like that keep up the good work man love the vid.
The government is going to declare your evil fossil fuel fired car a danger to society and make sure you cant buy gasoline for it - or if you do it will be $50 a gallon with taxes. The real goal of controlling gas or electric vehicles is that only the very rich - multi millionaires - will be able to afford their own automobile. That is how it is in parts of Europe already. That is the extreme socialist scheme the voters of the USA want.
I agree with you totally but I think I would want to design my own type of electric car and I would put the batteries back up where the engine goes and design a much safer firewall.
How do we do quick test for lithium in the remote area? A none lab quick test for lithium.
There are no cheap and easy field tests for lithium.
Awesome, thank you. Given the area I operate in, for me it is still productive to prospect for Li bearing pegmatites simply because such little fieldwork has been done.
Sounds interesting and thanks for sharing!
quick question where is good place to send lithium ore sample close to northern ca.? good video.
Analytical labs for lithium are not something that is common. There are some in northern Nevada, but none I know of in California.
I enjoy your informative videos.
Glad you like them!
When I lived in Wyoming, I heard of an area by Sundance, Wy. Or the northeast corner of Wyoming that had discovered some rare earth deposits. Not sure if lithium was one but have you heard of this deposit.??????
I've not heard of it, lithium is not a rare earth metal.
I’m very curious why the great salt lake being a high salty lake and what remains of the larger lake Bonneville isn’t the largest resource in the us. It seems like it should be full of lithium. Much of the lake bed has recently been evaporated due to the long drought. Seems a layer of lithium should be just sitting there waiting to be processed near the shore.
The lithium in the dry lakes that have it come from the weathering of certain types of rocks. The rocks surrounding the great Salt Lake are not of the right type to contribute lithium.
Chris,can lithium be recycled?
Yes, but as I said in the video, no one is doing it. Several companies are working on developing a process.
Do you have any updates on Mozambique lithium deposit prospect.
No, I do not. Check on the internet with Google.
I've known about lithium since god knows when. I was on lithium for a while, but it didn't work for me, so I have a bunch of lithium carbonate I've repurposed for chemistry experiments. I recycle my lithium batteries on my own too.--typically I convert it to lithium oxalate if it isn't in metallic form, which is the case for most of them. A good sized glove box and an argon gas atmosphere is a good investment if anyone gets as deep into home based battery recycling.
So what do you do with the lithium carbonate or oxalate once you are done recycling?
@@ChrisRalph At this time, I just collect it, which I know is lame. I plan sometime in the future to make an attempt to reduce it to lithium metal through electrolysis of lithium chloride and potassium chloride. It's pretty dangerous and requires a lot of work as well as further investment into proper equipment.
@@ChrisRalph Another thing, as you mentioned in your video, is dealing with the other metals like cobalt and nickel. There is copper too depending on the type of lithium cell. I personally form the safest and least soluble compounds I can form for storage. I am backlogged on chemical waste, so I'm not doing anything new at this time. This furthers your point on lithium battery recycling and why there isn't much incentive for companies to recycle. It's a sad reality.
Great sir. How we identify the lithium deposit ?
By chemical testing.
A lot of minerals end in lite. What does lite mean?
The suffix “ite” is on the end of minerals derived from a form of the Greek word lithos (from its adjectival form -ites), meaning rock or stone. ...
Great video and the comments are interesting too
Glad you like them!
Chris, thanks for producing this video, a tremendous amount of great information. Heading out to Nevada in the near future. In the next few weeks, hoping to go gold prospecting in east Tennessee. Keep up the good work!
Glad it was helpful! Looking at Cooker Creek?
Hi Chris. Thanks for all this information. Love your work!
You've said in several videos that you always read your video comments, so I hope you do read this one :)
I've recently started researching Lithium and rare earth elements to help me in picking resource sector stocks for investing in. One of the questions I have is how do I know if a particular ore grade is good or bad - for example you mention Greenbushes in Australia having 2.4% Lithium. What's the best grade know so far, and at what point is the grade likely to indicate that it's not worth mining?
I know this is a big ask, but would you be able to do a video (or point me to some existing website) that discusses what min/max grades for each of the various precious elements would make a core sample indicative of a good or bad mining opportunity? I've been trying to search for this info with little success thus far, and it would great to know how to read company test drilling reports in order to identify a good investment.
Thanks.
Its not as simple as you suspect. Lithium and rare earths are bulk metals with comparatively low value per pound. Making your won will no be economic unless you do it on a huge scale with a multi million dollar investment.
Gonna buy your book soon bruther thank you for the knowledge you are sharing
Awesome, thank you!
HI is there any way to detect the lithium with metal detector or any instrument there is a dry salty lake i want to check it out for lithium thanks
Lithium is present in dry lakes as lithium salts, and no metal detector will see it. There is no simple easy way to detect lithium in the field.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge, I appreciate
Glad it was helpful!
Solid stuff. Great job
Glad you liked it!
Hi Chris I found a Mineral deposit while looking for gold that looks loaded with Battery metals including Lithium but I don't know if the Values are high enough to bother with can I send you the ALS report for an opinion ??
I appreciate your interest, but I do not offer any services for consulting or advisement. I get many such requests and simply do not have time to help all who ask. I have many business and family commitments and simply don't have the time available. Sorry.
Where can I find a reliable lithium buyer? We are ready to start exporting and Mining on the go
There are different lithium products and they have different buyers. Do some research on Google to find a buyer of the lithium product you are making. All buyers have standards that your product must meet.
another great video---as always----
Glad you enjoyed the video.
Here's in Serbia people demonstrate against Rio Tinto because of ecology. We have me mineral Jadarit where is litium and Bor.
People think they will destroy rivers and ground. Whole eco system. For extracting Li need lots of acid and water.
What do you think professor?
What technology is safest for extracting Li, in Serbia?
People fear what they do not know.
@@ChrisRalph government in Serbia has stopped the project Jadarit because of people protesting 🤨
This video is extremely helpful, can't understand way the likes is so low. Now I have more questions about litium behavior 😅
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank You.
You're welcome, I'm glad you found it helpful.
❤❤❤ brief and good explains
Glad you liked it.
Love your explanations. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us:))
Glad you like the videos!
I'm looking forward to your uranium prospecting video. I've got autunite which was given to me from currentlytrockhounding, and I have some carnotite which I only recently discovered what it was a couple years after collecting it from rockhounding. I believe the host rock with the carnotite contains some vanadinite as well, but I need to find that specimen and examine it further under the microscope.
The uranium video is coming soon!
Are there proven and economical processes that can be approved by the EPA there in Nevada? Thanks!!
There has been Lithium mining in Nevada for decades. The problem with the new methods under development in Nevada is just tweaking the process to make it profitable. Not really an EPA problem.
I just heard Comstock Mining bought into a lithium recycler located at the Reno-Sparks industrial park. Not sure if this is a ligit recycler or research project.
Sounds like they are changing businesses from mining to recycling.
Great video thanks
Glad you enjoyed it
A company named CTR, and a spot called ,"Hell's Kitchen"( a very geothermal location at the southern end of the Salton Sea in CA,) and GENERAL MOTORS ,and some $$$$$$$$,,, will be extracting Li from the geothermal brine.
They'll be turning steam turbine gensets and extracting Lithium.
GM is investing heavily in EV tech.
Should be interesting.
Perhaps they will - lots of folks have plans.
Good stuff !!!!!
Glad you enjoyed it. Hope you are doing well.
These videos are amazing!
Glad you like them!
Do people mine lithium as individuals like they did with gold and silver?
No, because you need to purify the lithium before selling it. Gold and silver can be sold impure to refiners, and no one buys lithium ores direct from miners.
Thanks a lot. Good.🎉🎉🎉
Glad it was helpful!
hey professor where can i buy lithium ores?
how come those listed company never reply back
Do you want to buy ores or sell them?
Neither buyers or sellers of ore want to handle small amounts, they want to handle many tons.
@@ChrisRalph Hi i want to buy
A Power Purchase Agreement between Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) and ," The agreement consists of a 25-year term to supply Imperial Irrigation District with 40 megawatts of geothermal energy from the Hell’s Kitchen facility, located at the foot of the Salton Sea in the region’s internationally recognized “Salton Sea Known Geothermal Resource Area.”
The geothermal power facility is expected to be operational in 2023 and will coincide with the development of CTR’s integrated direct lithium extraction and conversion facility (Hell’s Kitchen LithiumCo)."
........
Supposed to be lots of Li in that brine.
Perhaps they will - lots of folks have plans.
Nice information sir thank you very much 👍
Most welcome.
Sir I am today going to British old gold mining in india . Today I am very happy gold nuggets finding plz your email address send me sir . I send mining picture sir.
Neometals in Australia have now started building plants to recycle lithium batteries
So far it's just R&D, not a business.
9/22/2022 Lithium Carbonate is selling for $35.10 per pound.
Lithium product prices go up and down.
Hi Chris. i love your video. but yiu never mentioned Nigeria. we have very high deposits of Lithium and the Chinese are everywhere in Nigeria because of Lithium
Yes, but if I talked about every single country with lithium, it would have been a 2 hour video.
Great video m8, love learning about the different mineral compositions. Made a wierd 10hr long video of just waves on Lake Michigan to play while we sleep, check it out if that would be of interest. Like to get out to AZ NM area to prospect this year, so looking forward to those videos also. Cheers Ralph.
Glad you enjoyed the video.
redwood materials recycle lithium batteries. They are extracting the elements right now. Through AI vast improvements will happen
Check it out - they are researching a process,doing R&D, they are not doing a commercial recycling business.
@@ChrisRalph thank you for that correction
There is a lithium mine in cedar City Utah also right off of highway 14. But I think there doing it illegal because there is no name of the business mine all private vehicles.
They are only just proposing a pilot scale test plant - they are not a producing operation. The technology is new and largely untested. We shall see what happens - it may or may not be economic.
Finally!... only kidding well done.
Hey I wonder if you might do the platinum elements next?
Oh and he does not lie, when he says he replies to your questions. I have asked a couple questions quite awhile ago now, and some recent ones. He replied to even my dumb questions years ago.
But I live in a different country that may be very different. I didnt realize this at first.
I did one on platinum minerals a while back. Check out this video: th-cam.com/video/rYElosHF9xA/w-d-xo.html
Hey Chris, thanks for sharing so much valuable information.
Do you have any advice for a young engineer interested in getting started in the mining industry? It seems like commodity production is going to define the next decade for the world.
thank you.
What type of engineering degree do you have? Many companies are looking for staff, but they want folks with specialized skills.
@@ChrisRalph Mechanical.
The milling end of things is more industrial and perhaps a better start for a Mechanical Engineer.
@@ChrisRalph Thanks so much!
Great videos! Keep up the great content! Can you do a video on the modern proposed mining at Thacker Pass in regards to the environmental impact, good or bad?
Its part of that clay mining mentioned in the video.
Chris Ralph, Professional Prospector Yes, but is this modern method good?
Good in what sense? Probably not really harmful to the environment. Companies are working on perfecting how to extract the lithium from the clay. To my knowledge, no on is yet extracting lithium for commercial production with clays.
Chris Ralph, Professional Prospector I didn’t think it was harmful here in America where our EPA is the strictest in the world, now China, India, Iran, Russia that’s a whole different story. I was just curious because of the America hating Commies protesting Thacker Pass right now. They never protest Communist countries.
If they protested else like China they would be arrested.
Like the presentation, thanks! (:o)
Glad you liked it!
That's right chris,
The recycling of the lithium ion battries is your grandkids problem.
I don't have kids. Not my problem lucky me.
Several dry lake beds in central south oregon come on up let's test,and mine them out.
Its funny that some dry lakes are rich in Lithium, but most are not.
Kudos to india, we hit lithium ore in Jammu❤
Congratulations.
@@ChrisRalph thanks sir
Google JB Straubel and Redwood iro battery recycling.
Read the articles very carefully and listen to what I said. From on of the articles: "JB Straubel's Redwood AIMS to extract lithium, cobalt and nickel from old batteries". As I said on the video, several companies are working on a process and trying to develop a business - JB Straubel is one of them. Its not that the chemistry is unknown, its that its not economic at this time. That is why no one is doing it yet.
@@ChrisRalph out of date; not aims, are doing.
Ferrari's are also known to burst into flames as illustrated in the photo of a burning Ferrari at 4:19 😃
OK.
@@ChrisRalph I'm enjoying your videos, I just started watching yesterday and subscribed. I just thought that was amusing.
Ferrari will be coming out with a Lithium battery powered car soon.
Fracking is 1000X more eco friendly than Quarry mining in other countries where they refuse to reclimate, or if they do, it’s just a landfill for windmills since they’re too expensive to fix.
Or a landfill for electric car batteries that cant be recycled.......
Hmmm perhaps Tesla, GM or Ford will start recycling soon. It would be in their best interest at some point.
The problem isn't that know one has any idea how to do, the problem is that its not economic at this point.
I don't understand how mass production of yet another limited resource (and if it isnt now, it will be soon) can possibly be considered a "green" alternative. .unless the green they are referring to is the monetary benefit that the same handful of people will reap. Cmon! Noone wants an electric car. If you do, youre lying or have never driven a Corvette.
I dont want an electric car, but hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles have been sold - somebody wants them.
@@ChrisRalph you are right. My take is myopic (or wishful thinking.)
I imagine it's also very dangerous to recycle lithium batteries
In some sense, but its also expensive.
Not terribly. Already done in south korea for several years now and also Germany.
EV batteries are recyclable for other components , just not the lithium yet.
They are potentially valuable for other materials and metals. As this point there are many doing R&D, no one is doing a for profit business of recycling.
And just watch. The Government will start to change us a fee for recycling batteries but they will still end up in the ocean in some other 3rd world country. Just you all wait and see. Government efficiency at it's best.
Yep, that is how the government of the people works. You also are too dangerous to have a vote, so that needs to be corrected too.
that car was a porshe........
if you say so....
You just crashed Tesla sales and demand for their PV battery "Powerwall".
Thankyou.
Those Tesla fires look like the bottom of car turns into a blowtorch.
No thanks!
Hey, its old news - I've made no changes.
Why put
Zimbabwean on Sanctions Sanctions Sanctions
Western countries European Countries must stop playing Political games with Zimbabwe people
So you wish the people of Africa should starve and die?
have a car accident in these EV's where your trapped in the car and you will know it
Our politicians are saying you must own one of these or no car at all.
@@ChrisRalph what effed up country is that ?
The USA - this is not today, mind you, but in the next 15 years or so. In Calif, all new cars and light trucks sold in the state must be electric by 2035. Biden's EPA is requiring that half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 to be zero-emissions vehicles - ie. electric. New Gas vehicles will become more and more expensive until you cant afford them or you wont be able to buy gasoline.