Posted on 04/08/2025 5:20:03 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
A vast, ancient crater in the western United States may be home to one of the most significant mineral discoveries of the century. Published in the journal Science Advances, researchers have identified a geological formation beneath this site that could dramatically reshape the global landscape for clean energy technology.
A Supervolcano’s Legacy Becomes a Resource Powerhouse
The McDermitt Caldera, measuring 45 by 35 kilometers, was formed 16.4 million years ago following a catastrophic volcanic eruption. Over time, a lake developed inside the caldera, collecting thick layers of volcanic ash and mineral-rich sediments.
These conditions gave rise to lithium-bearing clay minerals, including smectite and, uniquely, illite. What distinguishes this site from other claystone lithium deposits is the exceptional concentration of lithium found in the illite layer at Thacker Pass.
Drill samples revealed lithium concentrations reaching up to 2.4 weight percent, well above the global average for this type of deposit, which typically falls below 0.4 weight percent.
Geologists link this extreme enrichment to a rare, two-stage process. First, lithium-rich volcanic glass was leached by alkaline lake waters, forming magnesian smectite clays.
Later, during a magmatic resurgence about 16.3 million years ago, hydrothermal fluids rich in potassium, fluorine, rubidium, and cesium altered these clays into illite. These fluids traveled through fractures and porous sediment layers, triggering mineral transformation and concentrating lithium levels in the process.
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(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Strip mining a super-volcano? What could go wrong?
GM already bought the first 15 years production on this and it’s supposed to be up and running by 2026.
If we could just get down to the tectonic plates, we’ll be rich!
Vulcanism is the study of Spock.
The whole “rare earth minerals” in Ukraine was red herring anyway, as their presence was questionable in some cases and deemed not commercially viable in others. Aside from a small scandium operation, a bunch of nada.
ya there isnt much outta ukraine thats truthful. I was actually trying to be funny with that post! I’ll work on that!!
Ah, Lepidolite. I haven’t heard that mineral in a while. I remember Spodumene. I wonder if there is lithium in Valles Caldera, right under Los Alamos. Ha.
“How much energy has to be expended to remove it?”
More than all the windmills and solar cells combined can produce.
I have not explored over there, but the same thing that caused placer deposits (Gold precipitates out of the metamorphic zone associated with volcanic rock.
So we don’t need China or Ukraine’s minerals after all?
I have not explored over there, but the same thing that caused placer deposits (Gold precipitates out of the metamorphic zone associated with volcanic rock) are all over N M. It will be explored again.
I have not explored over there, but the same thing that caused placer deposits (Gold precipitates out of the metamorphic zone associated with volcanic rock) are all over N M. It will be explored again.
Ping!..............
I have not explored over there, but the same thing that caused placer deposits (Gold precipitates out of the metamorphic zone associated with volcanic rock) are all over N M. It will be explored again.
“The Dwarves dug too greedily and too deep.”
So if Yellowstone erupts we will have centuries worth of Lithium?
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Don’t give them any ideas about triggering the volcano! If that blows, it will be YUGE!
When the EV bubble bursts, this will end up being a giant MEH...
thank goodness that this stuff wasn’t discovered in california, or our Republic would never be allowed to access it ...
There is nothing clean about Lithium. Not mining it or using it. It is a toxic poison.
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