where new mines have been proposed, there is strong opposition here. It’s Also in Short Supplyīut like just about everywhere in the U.S. Read more: Lithium Is Key to the Electric Vehicle Transition.
“I think should try to be a little bit more self-sufficient.” Most of the country’s critical minerals are mined elsewhere and processed in China, she adds. “I consider myself an environmentalist,” says Mary, who on a recent rainy visit to the test quarry, was wearing jeans, a sweater, and hiking boots, her white hair pulled into a low ponytail. currently found in hard rock, which means it is higher-quality and faster to process than lithium mined from brine. This is one of the few lithium deposits in the U.S. Should the Maine deposit be mined, it could be worth as much as $1.5 billion, a huge windfall for the Freemans and a boon to the Biden Administration’s efforts to jumpstart more domestic mining, processing, and recycling of critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements to reduce the U.S.’ dependence on China. By 2040, the world will need at least 1.1 million metric tons of lithium annually, more than ten times what it currently produces, according to projections by the International Energy Agency. at a time when the material is desperately needed for the clean energy transition. The timing of their discovery, in what has been named Plumbago North, is remarkable the Freemans have stumbled across one of the only hard-rock sources of lithium in the U.S.
Now, the Freemans want to expand this pit, near the town of Newry, Maine, so they can mine spodumene, crystals that contain the lithium the U.S. Ben McCanna-Portland Press Herald/Getty Images
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