Posted on 08/10/2022 10:56:42 AM PDT by rktman
HUMBOLDT COUNTY, Nevada—Deep below the tangled roots of the old-growth sagebrush of Thacker Pass, in an extinct super-volcano, lies one of the world’s largest deposits of lithium—a key element for the transition to clean energy. But above ground, a cluster of tents has risen in the Northern Nevada desert where, for eight months, environmental and tribal activists are protesting plans to mine it for “green” technologies.
“We are not leaving until this project is canceled,” said Max Wilbert, of the Protect Thacker Pass campaign. “If need be, this will come down to direct action. We mean to put ourselves in between the machines and this place.”
Plans to dig for the element known as “white gold” have encountered a surge of resistance from tribes, ranchers, residents and activists who say they believe the repercussions of the mine will outweigh the lithium’s contributions to the nation’s transition to less-polluting energy sources than fossil fuels.
(Excerpt) Read more at insideclimatenews.org ...
No thank you. Besides, a friend says a small single bedroom place there is over $2,000 a month. And consider the neighborhood.
If these people really loved “Mother Earth” they would push for all the mining to be done in the USA and Canada where there are strict environmental rules and the companies need to follow them.
It would be better for the environment to roll back some of the environmental rules here to promote more mining rather than in countries where there are limited to no rules at all.
Actually, we have ONE small active Lithium mine in the US.
It is located at Silverpeak NV.
It is nowhere near large enough to meet demand.
I assume the lead time for obtaining fleets of large mining equipment is years. So it’s gonna take a while for sure.
Um, not sure where you got that.
Lithium is mined in more than one manner.
At Silverpeak NV they pump it up out of the ground and use a series of ponds to concentrate it.
I have seen this operation for myself.
Not much visible impact.
There is a lot of, uh, diversity in the area. Oh, and lots of “free” scooters.
We are getting beyond my skill set here but my impression is that the problem is not the Li but the other battery components. The cathode and anode are separated by an electrolyte which eventually degrades, leading to discharge within the battery rather than in supplying power externally.
The whole area of recycling electronic waste (called WEEE by the experts) is immensely complex because there are so many different materials in the device. Getting the lithium away from everything else to recycle it is the big task.
Hope some others can weigh in on this as well.
Older equipment rom other types of closed mines is fairly plentiful.
Of course no one really wants to use old equipment at a new mine.
They don’t care or think about things like that it’s all about getting their bling thing.
How long do your solar panels and car battery last?
I don’t get much wind or sun here living in a valley.
What happens to the panels and battery when they go bad?
If you are torn look into which side the Biden’s have put money into and support the other side.
If you're not trying to be a smart-alec and are truly interested in the details of my system, including the warranties, I typed some of the details here on FR for the others who see solar more from a prepping or independence standpoint than a save-the-environment-from-pickups standpoint. It is definitely not a one-size-fits-all plan. Nor it it good to implement at the utility level. But one totally awesome thing solar brings to the table for me: it's an energy source managed by me instead of the Dim, freedom sucking, bureaucrats.
Why would anyone assume that they (the Indians) would be satisfied to be known as native Americans? Anyone born in the US is a native American, it dilutes the significance of the Indian nations.
I’m not a granola but still wondering where this massive battery and panel go when they die.
Hope you have a good warranty.
Good luck!
Saline refinement requires intense heat. Chile has most of this resource. The NV claim will be more expensive.
I got this from researching the industry. Of course there is more than one means of extraction. Afghanistan and China require literally moving mountains.
More means are pending.
If the Li extraction from seawater comes to pass most land based mining will cease.
I am not investing in any Li mining operation.
“Umm, why sign up with treehuggers? They are almost always wrong. Chasing “clean energy” is stupid. I give yah that. Nothing is clean. But, this is a mine for materials otherwise only available in China. Whatever we can do to hurt the CCP should be pursued — just on general principles if nothing else.”
It’s a tough call, but I fear our Domestic Enemies more than China and much more than Russia - and right now, they’re in the process of outlawing gasoline engines, and then cars altogether and meat. So if it means that China benefits a bit, so be it.
Sea water contains only about 1/1000 the amount per volume found in the salt lakes in Chile.
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