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A large cargo ship carrying lithium batteries which caught on fire has reached Alaska but continues to be held two miles offshore while responders attempt to extinguish the blaze. The 19-strong crew managed to make it to shore with no injuries reported, according to the US Coast Guard. The Genius Star XI was carrying a load of lithium-ion batteries across the Pacific Ocean, from Vietnam to San Diego when the cargo caught on fire, the guard's Alaska district said in a release. The fire started on Christmas Day in cargo hold No. 1, a spokesperson for ship owner Wisdom Marine...

Picture this: you’re cruising down the Great Ocean Road in your brand new electric vehicle (EV), the ocean to your left and the wind in your hair. But what if I told you this idyllic drive could turn into a nightmare, with the faint smell of something burning? This month we have had at least two large lithium-ion battery fires in Australia – one in the Sydney airport car park and another one more recently at the Bouldercombe battery storage site in Queensland. When a lithium-ion battery fire breaks out, the damage can be extensive. These fires are not only...

I'm looking forward to watching California environmentalists argue with each other over whether or not they should mine this lithium for electric cars.

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Elon Musk says prototypes are easy, production is hell. And when it comes to the long-awaited Cybertruck, Tesla's hell is its pioneering 4680 battery. Tesla delivered the first of its futuristic stainless steel-plated electric pickups last month and CEO Musk said in October that it would probably hit an annual production rate of a quarter of a million vehicles at some point during 2025.

Net zero’s dirty little secret is the African child labor and China’s forced labor for mining cobalt. But what that also means is that the United States is heavily dependent on our existential enemy and child labor for one of the most important minerals in modern society. Even NPR recognizes the problem. “Right now, most of the cobalt the US and its allies use comes from mines that are owned or controlled by China or the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” the outlet reported. Of course, NPR did not explain that those supposedly wonderfully eco-friendly electric cars, besides being unreliable,...

The hot brine in a vast underground reserve under the Salton Sea in California probably contains enough lithium to build 375 million batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), according to “Characterizing the Geothermal Lithium Resource at the Salton Sea,” a new report by the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The researchers attempted to thoroughly quantify the amount of lithium that the deep subsurface geothermal reservoir of the lake could contain. Researchers estimate 18 million metric tons of lithium in the Salton Sea's geothermal reservoir, with at least 4 million tons already confirmed through drilling. The challenge now lies...

Imperial County, a sprawling desert region three hours southeast of Los Angeles that straddles the U.S.-Mexico border, may not be what you would typically associate with Southern California. Home to ramshackle landmarks like Salvation Mountain, the Salton Sea and Bombay Beach, it’s the least populated county in the region with just 180,000 residents. But U.S. politicians are suddenly interested in this rural area for other reasons — namely, the wealth of lithium deep beneath its surface. The rare mineral used in batteries, now in particularly high demand with the rise of electric vehicles, could be enough to produce 375 million...

Scientists have discovered that the circadian clock regulates axonal regeneration and repair. The authors found that DRG sensory neurons have an endogenous molecular clock that optimizes axonal regeneration in a mouse model of sciatic nerve injury. The researchers also demonstrated that axonal regeneration can be promoted using chrono-active drugs, such as lithium, which is currently used in clinics for treating neurological disorders. These findings pave the way for the use of clock-associated therapies and timed neurorehabilitation for people with Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) injuries. Dr. Francesco De Virgiliis said, "Our study shows that the circadian clock regulates axonal regeneration, and...

Argentina’s President-elect Javier Milei and American National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan discussed the outsized role his country may play in the global lithium industry if properly developed, multiple Argentine news outlets reported on Tuesday. Milei and a small entourage of soon-to-be administration officials visited the White House on Tuesday for the tail end of a brief trip to the United States. Milei landed in New Jersey from Buenos Aires on Monday morning and made a stop in New York City to pray at the Ohel, a Jewish holy site where the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, is buried. He...

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Li-Cycle announced that they will be halting construction on the Rochester Hub due to a review of the strategy for the facility. According to Li-Cycle, the Board of Directors is evaluating the project moving forward after the costs for construction have gone up. The board is looking into the scope and budget for the project. Monroe County partnership introduces recycling program for Lithium-ion batteries The company added that the engineering and procurement are mostly complete and that they are focusing on construction activities for the facility. They said they would be working with the Department of...

President Joe Biden’s commitment to his green energy agenda, with Electric Vehicles (EVs) at the forefront, without first securing a fierce American supply chain is likely to cede United States economic power to its biggest adversary, China. The United Auto Workers (UAW) are now striking against the top three automakers, General Motors (GM), Ford, and Stellantis. The union has continuously asked for a contract that ensures security for auto workers amid Biden’s EV push which, if not coupled with an ambitious manufacturing agenda, may eliminate millions of U.S. jobs.

In a remote region of Humboldt County, Nevada, the People of Red Mountain — Paiute, Shoshone, and Bannock people from Fort McDermitt Tribe — are fighting against President Biden’s climate-change agenda by seeking to stop the extraction of lithium from the Thacker Pass Mine. This week, while Biden is campaigning in California touting his “climate credentials” with “the most aggressive climate action ever,” the People of Red Mountain are preparing for next week’s 9th Circuit Court of Appeals hearing on the Thacker Pass Lithium Mine as they attempt to stop the destruction of what they deem to be sacred land....

OSAKA -- China is increasing its presence in the race to develop replacements for the lithium-ion battery, a Nikkei analysis shows. A country-by-country tally of patents related to post-lithium-ion batteries over the past 10 years shows China in the lead, accounting for more than half of all patents. The evaluation of patents for sodium-ion batteries, perhaps the biggest horse in the race, also shows China dominating Japan and the U.S., with Chinese companies expected to begin mass production of these batteries this year. Japan and the U.S. are also rushing to develop inexpensive alternatives to resource-constrained batteries for their decarbonization...

Get ready! The mad dash for metals is here! Copper set to be most valuable opportunity in race to net zero Electric vehicles and wind turbines are main demand drivers. Rising demand for energy transition metals is essentially a given at this point. The real question is whether there will be enough supply. As things currently stand, lots of these metals, including copper and cobalt, are at risk of a shortfall in the coming decades unless current reserves can be supplemented with new geological discoveries and projects, and recycling of old material is stepped up. Many countries have known resources...

Conceptual Rendering of the Plating and Stripping Reaction of Lithium Metal Electrode The high reactivity of lithium metal reduces the electrolyte at its surface, thereby leading to the degradation of lithium metal battery performance. To overcome this issue, scientists have developed functional electrolytes and electrolyte additives to form a surface protective film, which impacts the safety and efficiency of lithium batteries, but this was still not efficient to prevent certain severe side reactions. In the current study, researchers stabilized the lithium metal and electrolyte by designing the electrolyte to provide upshifted oxidation-reduction potential of lithium metal, thus succeeding in weakening...

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...

Above, a map of Thacker Pass, where a Chinese-dominated firm is set to mine U.S. lithium. It could ship it to China for processing -- but there are doubts whether it will all return. July 20, 2022 A Chinese-dominated mining company has procured millions of dollars in American subsidies to extract lithium in the United States – but, given a dearth of U.S. processing capacity, the mineral is likely to be sent to China with no guarantee that the end product would return as batteries to power President Biden's envisioned green economy. Critics say the scenario would increase U.S. energy...

NEWRY — The richest known hard rock lithium deposit in the world lies a few miles northeast of the ski slopes of Sunday River and not far from Step Falls, where swimmers can wade in shallow pools formed by hundreds of feet of cascading granite ledge. Smaller deposits have been known in Maine for decades, but this recent discovery, just north of Plumbago Mountain in Newry, is the first to have a major resource potential. And that potential is staggering: At current market prices, the deposit, thought to contain 11 million tons of ore, is valued at roughly $1.5 billion....

Researchers have developed a lithium-air battery with an energy density of over 500Wh/kg -- significantly higher than currently lithium-ion batteries. The research team then confirmed that this battery can be charged and discharged at room temperature. In addition, the team found that the battery developed by the team shows the highest energy densities and best cycle life performances ever achieved. These results signify a major step toward the practical use of lithium-air batteries.

The Nez Perce Indians of northern Idaho received the state’s first large-scale battery from Tesla in November.About the size of a standard shipping container, the Tesla Megapack will store power from solar panels, enabling the tribe to reduce its dependence on local dams. For decades, the Nez Perce have demanded the destruction of four hydropower plants along the Lower Snake River with claims the concrete barriers hamper a near-extinct salmon population.The Tesla Megapack, installation company RevoluSun CEO Josh Powell told Public News Service, “allows people like the Nez Perce to control their energy where it’s being produced where they have...