6 The Impacts of Electric Vehicles …
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the exploration of lithium ores has been active. By 2019, the identified economically
recoverable reserves of lithium was 17 million tons, most of which was in Chile (8.6
million tons), Australia (2.8 million tons), Argentina (1.7 million tons) and China
(1 million tons). The identified resources of lithium were approximately 80 million
tons, mostly in the “Lithium Triangle” in South America, i.e. Bolivia (21 million
tons), Argentina (17 million tons) and Chile (9 million tons) (Mineral commodity
summaries 2020).
In terms of primary supply, the global lithium mine production reached 77,000 tons
in 2019, of which the main producers were Australia (42,000 tons), Chile
(18,000 tons), China (7,000 tons) and Argentina (6,000 tons) (Mineral commodity
summaries 2020). For secondary supply, the recycling of lithium currently remains
at a low level. Despite the rising awareness of recycling-related laws and policies
in multiple countries and regions, the recovery of spent lithium battery is far from
being satisfactory (Sun et al. 2018). In 2018, the world recovered approximately
97,000 tons of lithium battery, of which 67,000 tons were from China. At the average
energy density of 150 Wh/kg, the total recovery amounted to 15 GWh (Melin 2019).
Meanwhile, the world produced about 160 GWh of lithium battery in 2018, and
about 30 GWh was discarded correspondingly (Melin 2019), indicating enormous
potential for lithium battery recovery.
The cobalt reserves in 2019 was 7 million tons, most of which were in Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC, 3.6 million tons) and Australia (1.2 million tons), with
the former becoming one of the major cobalt producers starting from 1999, and its
share in global cobalt production steadily on the rise, supplying around 70% of the
world’s cobalt in 2019 (Mineral commodity summaries 2020). However, the cobalt
supply from DRC is troubled by very unstable policies due to war and political issues,
prompting major cobalt companies to invest in cobalt exploration in other countries.
Cobalt is a typical companion mineral, of which 90% is mined as a by-product of
copper or nickel except for the primary ores in Morocco and artisanal mining in DRC
(Fu et al. 2020), which means that the output and price of cobalt does not only depend
on its own market but is also prone to the impact of copper and nickel market. In
terms of secondary supply, the recovery of cobalt stood low at approximately 10%
in 2015 (Sun et al. 2019).
The mining supply of nickel shows a more scattered pattern. In 2019, the
global nickel reserves were 89 million tons, of which Indonesia (21 million tons),
Australia (20 million tons), Brazil (11 million tons), Russia (6.9 million tons),
Cuba (5.5 million tons) and the Philippines (4.8 million tons) ranked among the
top. In 2019, the global nickel mine production was 2.7 million tons, with main
producers being Indonesia (800,000 tons), the Philippines (420,000 tons), Russia
(270,000 tons), New Caledonia (220,000 tons), Canada (180,000 tons) and Australia
(180,000 tons) (Mineral commodity summaries 2020). The static reserve and production (RP) ratio of nickel is merely 33 years, lower than that of lithium and cobalt, but
RP ratio of nickel mines remained unchanged at around 30 years over the past two
decades, meaning that the economically recoverable reserves of nickel vary in close
correlation with its output, and no shortage within short or mid-term is predicted as
things stand.
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the exploration of lithium ores has been active. By 2019, the identified economically
recoverable reserves of lithium was 17 million tons, most of which was in Chile (8.6
million tons), Australia (2.8 million tons), Argentina (1.7 million tons) and China
(1 million tons). The identified resources of lithium were approximately 80 million
tons, mostly in the “Lithium Triangle” in South America, i.e. Bolivia (21 million
tons), Argentina (17 million tons) and Chile (9 million tons) (Mineral commodity
summaries 2020).
In terms of primary supply, the global lithium mine production reached 77,000 tons
in 2019, of which the main producers were Australia (42,000 tons), Chile
(18,000 tons), China (7,000 tons) and Argentina (6,000 tons) (Mineral commodity
summaries 2020). For secondary supply, the recycling of lithium currently remains
at a low level. Despite the rising awareness of recycling-related laws and policies
in multiple countries and regions, the recovery of spent lithium battery is far from
being satisfactory (Sun et al. 2018). In 2018, the world recovered approximately
97,000 tons of lithium battery, of which 67,000 tons were from China. At the average
energy density of 150 Wh/kg, the total recovery amounted to 15 GWh (Melin 2019).
Meanwhile, the world produced about 160 GWh of lithium battery in 2018, and
about 30 GWh was discarded correspondingly (Melin 2019), indicating enormous
potential for lithium battery recovery.
The cobalt reserves in 2019 was 7 million tons, most of which were in Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC, 3.6 million tons) and Australia (1.2 million tons), with
the former becoming one of the major cobalt producers starting from 1999, and its
share in global cobalt production steadily on the rise, supplying around 70% of the
world’s cobalt in 2019 (Mineral commodity summaries 2020). However, the cobalt
supply from DRC is troubled by very unstable policies due to war and political issues,
prompting major cobalt companies to invest in cobalt exploration in other countries.
Cobalt is a typical companion mineral, of which 90% is mined as a by-product of
copper or nickel except for the primary ores in Morocco and artisanal mining in DRC
(Fu et al. 2020), which means that the output and price of cobalt does not only depend
on its own market but is also prone to the impact of copper and nickel market. In
terms of secondary supply, the recovery of cobalt stood low at approximately 10%
in 2015 (Sun et al. 2019).
The mining supply of nickel shows a more scattered pattern. In 2019, the
global nickel reserves were 89 million tons, of which Indonesia (21 million tons),
Australia (20 million tons), Brazil (11 million tons), Russia (6.9 million tons),
Cuba (5.5 million tons) and the Philippines (4.8 million tons) ranked among the
top. In 2019, the global nickel mine production was 2.7 million tons, with main
producers being Indonesia (800,000 tons), the Philippines (420,000 tons), Russia
(270,000 tons), New Caledonia (220,000 tons), Canada (180,000 tons) and Australia
(180,000 tons) (Mineral commodity summaries 2020). The static reserve and production (RP) ratio of nickel is merely 33 years, lower than that of lithium and cobalt, but
RP ratio of nickel mines remained unchanged at around 30 years over the past two
decades, meaning that the economically recoverable reserves of nickel vary in close
correlation with its output, and no shortage within short or mid-term is predicted as
things stand.