Lithium is not much to look at. It’s a soft and light, silver-white metal known for its use in mood stabilising drug
But the 25th most abundant element on earth could, one day, help cure the world of its addiction to oil — as a key ingredient in batteries.
US geologists last week released the results of a survey showing around a trillion dollars worth of minerals in Afghanistan, which could make the war-ravaged state “the Saudi Arabia of lithium”, according to a Pentagon memo.
But mining and technology firms have long been looking at lithium through eyes lit with dollar signs.
Lithium-based batteries are used in everything from mobile phones and laptops, to iPods and iPads, as well as military and medical hardware. They have even made their way into the human body, powering pacemakers.
But the main reason companies are betting on lithium is the projected explosion in the number of electric and hybrid electric vehicles.
Nissan, Honda and Toyota are among car-makers now gambling that electric vehicles, with their zero tailpipe emissions, will catch on and start to drive traditional gas-guzzlers off the road.
All will need batteries. Lots of batteries.
Lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, and potentially new batteries such as lithium-air, are seen as the best option by many manufacturers over other battery types as they are lightweight and efficient, and can hold more power.
Subbu Bettadapura, Malaysia-based associate director of energy research company Frost and Sullivan, says the battery market is set to grow massively.
The lithium-ion battery market for electric and hybrid vehicles is, he says, conservatively-estimated to be set to grow from 2,400 units in 2008 to 1.53 million units by 2015.
“The tide is definitely going out on oil, in the long run,” he told AFP. “The world’s dependence on oil will decline and will be replaced by other fuels, such as lithium-ion batteries.”
The US, the world’s second biggest polluter after China, clearly agrees.
President Barack Obama has said he wants a million hybrid electric cars on America‘s roads by 2015.
And, at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new lithium-ion battery plant on Monday, Vice President Joe Biden said such factories could reduce US dependence on foreign oil and prevent disasters like the Deepwater Horizon oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.
“This is the beginning of a revolution in the production of energy in the country,” said Biden at the ceremony for Dow Kokam?s plant in Midland, Michigan, which will make batteries for 60,000 electric vehicles a year.
Japanese, Chinese and South Korean manufacturers dominate the lithium-ion battery market, and Asia-Pacific lithium mining projects are coming thick and fast.
Australian mining firm Orocobre signed a deal in January with the raw materials arm of motor giant Toyota for a lithium project in Argentina.
This month, a South Korean consortium launched a lithium stock exploration joint-project with a Canadian mining firm, also in Argentina. There are several other deals either signed or in the pipeline.
The world’s largest lithium reserves lie in Bolivia at the Salar de Uyuni – in the remote southern Andean plane. But Bolivia’s left wing government is not seen as a country friendly to foreign industry, so investment has tended to flow elsewhere — to its South American neighbours.
Galaxy Resources, an Australian mining and chemicals company, will soon commission the world’s second largest spodumene — a source of raw lithium — mine in Western Australia, to be processed at its plant in China.
Oil may have had its day, says Anand Seth, Galaxy’s marketing chief, but it will be around for a long time yet.
“Is it the end of oil? I wish!,” he told AFP. “But it is not so simple and probably not in our lifetime.
“The lithium batteries for electric vehicles are very much in the nascent stage and the infrastructure to charge these batteries needs to be developed and installed.
“The next five years will be critical in establishing such infrastructure for recharging the batteries and the technology and standardisation of batteries is also very important.”

$1 trillion Untapped Mineral Deposit In Afghanistan

Lithium Stocks

WASHINGTON — The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.

Image via Wikipedia

The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.

An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and BlackBerrys.

The vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists. The Afghan government and President Hamid Karzai were recently briefed, American officials said.

While it could take many years to develop a mining industry, the potential is so great that officials and executives in the industry believe it could attract heavy investment even before mines are profitable, providing the possibility of jobs that could distract from generations of war.

“There is stunning potential here,” Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, said in an interview on Saturday. “There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant.”

The value of the newly discovered mineral deposits dwarfs the size of Afghanistan’s existing war-bedraggled economy, which is based largely on opium production and narcotics trafficking as well as aid from the United States and other industrialized countries. Afghanistan’s gross domestic product is only about $12 billion.

“This will become the backbone of the Afghan economy,” said Jalil Jumriany, an adviser to the Afghan minister of mines.

American and Afghan officials agreed to discuss the mineral discoveries at a difficult moment in the war in Afghanistan. The American-led offensive in Marja in southern Afghanistan has achieved only limited gains. Meanwhile, charges of corruption and favoritism continue to plague the Karzai government, and Mr. Karzai seems increasingly embittered toward the White House.

So the Obama administration is hungry for some positive news to come out of Afghanistan. Yet the American officials also recognize that the mineral discoveries will almost certainly have a double-edged impact.

Instead of bringing peace, the newfound mineral wealth could lead the Taliban to battle even more fiercely to regain control of the country.

The corruption that is already rampant in the Karzai government could also be amplified by the new wealth, particularly if a handful of well-connected oligarchs, some with personal ties to the president, gain control of the resources. Just last year, Afghanistan’s minister of mines was accused by American officials of accepting a $30 million bribe to award China the rights to develop its copper mine. The minister has since been replaced.

Endless fights could erupt between the central government in Kabul and provincial and tribal leaders in mineral-rich districts. Afghanistan has a national mining law, written with the help of advisers from the World Bank, but it has never faced a serious challenge.

“No one has tested that law; no one knows how it will stand up in a fight between the central government and the provinces,” observed Paul A. Brinkley, deputy undersecretary of defense for business and leader of the Pentagon team that discovered the deposits.

At the same time, American officials fear resource-hungry China will try to dominate the development of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth, which could upset the United States, given its heavy investment in the region. After winning the bid for its Aynak copper mine in Logar Province, China clearly wants more, American officials said.

Another complication is that because Afghanistan has never had much heavy industry before, it has little or no history of environmental protection either. “The big question is, can this be developed in a responsible way, in a way that is environmentally and socially responsible?” Mr. Brinkley said. “No one knows how this will work.”

With virtually no mining industry or infrastructure in place today, it will take decades for Afghanistan to exploit its mineral wealth fully. “This is a country that has no mining culture,” said Jack Medlin, a geologist in the United States Geological Survey’s international affairs program. “They’ve had some small artisanal mines, but now there could be some very, very large mines that will require more than just a gold pan.”

The mineral deposits are scattered throughout the country, including in the southern and eastern regions along the border with Pakistan that have had some of the most intense combat in the American-led war against the Taliban insurgency.

Image via Wikipedia

The Pentagon task force has already started trying to help the Afghans set up a system to deal with mineral development. International accounting firms that have expertise in mining contracts have been hired to consult with the Afghan Ministry of Mines, and technical data is being prepared to turn over to multinational mining companies and other potential foreign investors. The Pentagon is helping Afghan officials arrange to start seeking bids on mineral rights by next fall, officials said.

“The Ministry of Mines is not ready to handle this,” Mr. Brinkley said. “We are trying to help them get ready.”

Like much of the recent history of the country, the story of the discovery of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth is one of missed opportunities and the distractions of war.

In 2004, American geologists, sent to Afghanistan as part of a broader reconstruction effort, stumbled across an intriguing series of old charts and data at the library of the Afghan Geological Survey in Kabul that hinted at major mineral deposits in the country. They soon learned that the data had been collected by Soviet mining experts during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, but cast aside when the Soviets withdrew in 1989.

During the chaos of the 1990s, when Afghanistan was mired in civil war and later ruled by the Taliban, a small group of Afghan geologists protected the charts by taking them home, and returned them to the Geological Survey’s library only after the American invasion and the ouster of the Taliban in 2001.

“There were maps, but the development did not take place, because you had 30 to 35 years of war,” said Ahmad Hujabre, an Afghan engineer who worked for the Ministry of Mines in the 1970s.

Armed with the old Russian charts, the United States Geological Survey began a series of aerial surveys of Afghanistan’s mineral resources in 2006, using advanced gravity and magnetic measuring equipment attached to an old Navy Orion P-3 aircraft that flew over about 70 percent of the country.

The data from those flights was so promising that in 2007, the geologists returned for an even more sophisticated study, using an old British bomber equipped with instruments that offered a three-dimensional profile of mineral deposits below the earth’s surface. It was the most comprehensive geologic survey of Afghanistan ever conducted.

The handful of American geologists who pored over the new data said the results were astonishing.

But the results gathered dust for two more years, ignored by officials in both the American and Afghan governments. In 2009, a Pentagon task force that had created business development programs in Iraq was transferred to Afghanistan, and came upon the geological data. Until then, no one besides the geologists had bothered to look at the information — and no one had sought to translate the technical data to measure the potential economic value of the mineral deposits.

Soon, the Pentagon business development task force brought in teams of American mining experts to validate the survey’s findings, and then briefed Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Mr. Karzai.

So far, the biggest mineral deposits discovered are of iron and copper, and the quantities are large enough to make Afghanistan a major world producer of both, United States officials said. Other finds include large deposits of niobium, a soft metal used in producing superconducting steel, rare earth elements and large gold deposits in Pashtun areas of southern Afghanistan.

Just this month, American geologists working with the Pentagon team have been conducting ground surveys on dry salt lakes in western Afghanistan where they believe there are large deposits of lithium. Pentagon officials said that their initial analysis at one location in Ghazni Province showed the potential for lithium deposits as large of those of Bolivia, which now has the world’s largest known lithium reserves.

For the geologists who are now scouring some of the most remote stretches of Afghanistan to complete the technical studies necessary before the international bidding process is begun, there is a growing sense that they are in the midst of one of the great discoveries of their careers.

“On the ground, it’s very, very, promising,” Mr. Medlin said. “Actually, it’s pretty amazing.”

Pan American Lithium Corp, (TSX.V:PL) is a brand new opportunity for investors interested in participating in the expected boom in lithium demand. But contrary to many of the junior companies rushing to throw their hats into the ring, Pan American Lithium is both well advanced and diversified in terms of locations and source types for lithium stocks.

“We’re going to be, without question, the best lithium story out there,” said Andrew Brodkey, Pan American’s CEO.

Quite an ambitious statement, coming from a company that has only just listed on the TSX Venture exchange. But then the developments within the company to date suggest that this might not be pure hubris.

“The reason why we’re the best story is really simple,” he continued. “We’ve got the best properties, and we’re going to be one of the fastest into production. The timeline is relatively short, and the market is failry well understood y the people who are starting to develop the industry. The whole worldwide consumption is still under 100,000 tonnes per year of lithium carbonate, which is the standard commodity form in which lithium is sold.

85,000 tonnes of that annually is through a couple of big operators, and 70% of the production comes from South America.”

The largest supplier of lithium in the world is Chile-based SQM, who last year boosted lithium production from 30,000 to 40,000 metric tonnes annually. SQM has 30% market share of the global lithium market.

Financing Not a Problem
Pan American Lithium has already attracted a major industrial investor – testimony to the viability of their assets. The company announce earlier this week that POSCO, a privately held Korean conglomerate, had entered into a non-binding letter of Intent with Pan American, whereby an amount of up to CDN$5 million may be invested by POSCO.

POSCO will make an initial payment of CDN$1 million on signing of the subscription agreement– POSCO will make the remaining payment of CDN$4 million at closing of the subscription agreement. POSCO will receive Pan American Lithium stock shares at a price of CDN$.50 per share, or such greater price if required by the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange– for each share purchased, POSCO will receive a 1/2 warrant to purchase Pan American Lithium shares at a price of CDN$1.00 per share for 2 years; the warrants.

POSCO is a privately held Korean conglomerate, first established in 1967, with a focus on the production and sale of steel and steel products, both domestically in Korea and internationally. POSCO is the fourth largest steel producer in the world. In 2008, POSCO produced over 33 million tons of crude steel, had revenues of over CDN$28 billion and net profits of over $CDN4 billion.

Pan American Lithium controls interests in nine “salars” with the potential to produce lithium and other metals from surface lakes and subsurface brines, all located in the mineral-rich Atacama Region III of Chile. The rights in these nine lithium salars cover a cumulative area in excess of 11,500 hectares, all accessible via serviceable roads. Pan American Lithium has submitted a NI43-101 compliant report on these projects and is currently reviewing its portfolio to determine a priority amongst these properties and a process to move forward on the technical assessment of these sites.

Mexican Geothermal Plant Brines
As announced on December 21, 2009, Pan American Lithium the option to acquire 76% of the shares of Escondidas by Pan American Lithium, which will result in Pan American Lithium receiving indirect interests in a joint venture whereby Escondidas and another party will jointly develop lithium and precious metals through concessions in the geothermal brines currently being produced at the Cierro Prieto geothermal power plant located in Baja California, Mexico, roughly 30 km south of the city of Mexicali.

The beauty about geothermal brines is there is absolutely ZERO cost or exploration risk.

Uses for Lithium Lithium is a metal from the alkaline family whose main properties are:

• Lightest solid element at room temperature;
• Low coefficient of thermal expansion;
• High electrochemical potential.

Given their versatility, lithium chemicals have a wide variety of applications. Because lithium is the lightest solid element at room temperature and it has a high electrochemical potential, lithium is the ideal cathode material for rechargeable batteries (lithium-ion) and anode material in primary, or non-rechargeable, batteries.

Around 27% of lithium is produced for batteries used in devices such as cellular phones, portable computers, digital cameras, handheld electronics (PDAs) and MP3s, among others.

In a solid state, lithium is the element with the greatest caloric capacity and therefore is utilized in applications that involve heat transfer, such as ceramic glass, an important component in kitchen stovetops. One of the main advantages of using lithium to manufacture this type of glass is that it improves its appearance, and lithium’s high caloric capacity makes glass harder. Having a low coefficient of thermal expansion makes lithium-containing glass and ceramic coatings (glazes) more resistant to high temperatures and sudden changes in temperature. In addition, adding lithium to glass gives the glass certain physical and mechanical properties such as hardness, shine and increased resistance to chemical agents, among others.

In the last few years, lithium use has experienced significant growth in the steel industry, particularly in continuous casting powder processes where lithium carbonate affords greater speed and fluidity in the molding process. Despite the fact that lithium demand for this application is strongly linked to economic cycles,this application grew between 4 and 5% in 2008.

Demand for lithium hydroxide grew by between 1 and 2% in 2008, resulting primarily from its use in batteries since the principal use for lithium hydroxide –in lubricating grease– showed no growth during the year asa result of the deceleration in the automotive industry that began during the second half of the year.

Lubricating grease represents approximately 75% of the total market for lithium hydroxide. In fact, estimates indicate that more than 70% of the lubricating greases produced in the world contain lithium.

A wide variety of organic and inorganic derivatives are produced from lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide and lithium chloride. These derivatives have various applications, mainly in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Over time, lithium derivatives have shown fairly stable growth rates which are expected to continue in the medium to long term, since these applications in general are very specific and not sensitive to economic cycles.

The company is led by Andrew Brodkey, CEO, President and Director – who has 25 years in the mining industry as a mining engineer, lawyer and senior executive with a focus on corporate legal and business development activities at major mining companies with an emphasis on Latin America, including Magma Copper Company and BHP Copper Inc. Mr. Brodkey also created the International Mining & Metals Group of CB Richard Ellis, Inc (“CBRE”).

Conclusion
Lithium is on the verge of a major explosion in demand thanks to the anticipated transformation of the world’s automotive fleet from hydrocarbon power to battery power. Most major auto manufacturers have announced their intention to produce some kind of lithium battery powered automobile, and personal electronics are increasingly powered by these highly efficient and energy-dense power sources.

Pan American Lithium, with its diverse project portfolio, is probably one of the best ways to capture the opportunity afforded by this emerging market.  

Article From Lithium Stocks – Lithium was first used in the 1870s to treat gout, cluster headaches and depression. Today, lithium is mostly used to treat bipolar disorder and is available in several forms, including lithium orotate. The form used by American doctors is called lithium carbonate and is only available by prescription. It is the most effective treatment for bipolar disorder available. Studies have shown that the mortality rate of manic depressive patients taking long term lithium treatment is considerably less than those not receiving the treatment. Other lithium treatments include cluster headaches, prevention of migraine headaches, gout, manic depression, lowering of mental stress, dermatitis, alcoholism, anger and Alzheimer’s disease. LIthium is also known to have antiviral effects and immune boosting abilities.

Unfortunately, it is not well utilized by cells, making high dosages necessary, which can lead to lithium side effects. Toxic effects of lithium include vomiting, blurred vision, thirst, frequent urination, tremors, drowsiness, ringing in the ears, muscular weakness and poor coordination. Naturopaths and alternative medicine practitioners treat patients with the supplement lithium orotate, because the required dosage to achieve many of the benefits of lithium is much less than lithium carbonate, and at the lower dosage the risk of toxicity is greatly reduced. A few doctors have treated patients with lithium orotate long term and report no side effects of any kind. However, there is controversy over the effectiveness and safety of lithium orotate by many in the medical community because of the limited research available.

http://www.lithium-stocks.net

A common question asked regarding supplements is ” what is the best way to take mineral supplements.” There are many choices which include chelates, picolinates, orotates and citrates. Orotates are rarely used by psychiatrists to treat patients, but naturopaths and alternative care practitioners believe them to be a powerful nutrient delivery system. Orotates are mineral salts that occur naturally in the human body and in several foods including dairy products. In studies conducted, orotates were found effective in passing through cell membrane barriers making supplements bioavailable to the body. Lithium orotate is considered to be much more effective at penetrating cell walls than lithium carbonate and therefore a much lesser dosage is required, eliminating the possibility of side effects while providing the same benefits as the carbonate. 

Lithium orotate is available at health stores and some drug stores under several different brand names. When choosing a quality lithium orotate supplement make sure there is at least five milligrams of elemental calcium per capsule. These products are not regulated so there is no way to know whether you are getting the amounts stated on the bottle. Therefore always choose a reputable and well known brand name.

When taking lithium orotate there are several important considerations. Drink plenty of fluids but avoid caffeinated drinks. Make sure your daily intake of tissue salts is adequate. Lack of fluids and dietary salts can cause the body to hold on to lithium which can cause unhealthy build up of lithium. If you have kidney disease it isn’t safe to take lithium because it cannot be properly removed from your system. If you are pregnant or breast feeding you must avoid taking lithium supplements. Older people have a difficult time with lithium supplements because of reduced capacity to absorb and utilize minerals efficiently. Some medications do not interact well with lithium. Halidol and lithium are very toxic when mixed. Others include ibuprofen, naproxen and ssri antidepressants, When starting a anything new, its always a good idea to work with a natural health practitioner to help you reach your health goals effectively.