Iran says it has discovered the second largest reserve of lithium in the world in Hamedan province, in the west of the country. Lithium is sometimes described as ‘white gold’. The rare metal has been in high demand recently. It is an important component for rechargeable batteries for smartphones, laptops or electric vehicles, for example.
“For the first time in Iran, a lithium stockpile has been discovered in Hamedan,” the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade reported on Iranian state television on Saturday, according to the US channel CNBC, which specializes in global business news.
‘Jackpot’
The Iranian ministry believes that the reserve found contains 8.5 million tons of lithium. If that figure is correct, it would be the world’s second-largest lithium stockpile and potentially “jackpot” Iran’s treasury. After all, lithium is a crucial raw material for the energy transition. It is used to make electric cars, batteries, solar panels and wind turbines, among other things. However, the mining of lithium is not environmentally friendly, because it requires a lot of water and large amounts of CO2 are released.
Electric driving
Worldwide reserves of lithium are estimated at only 98 million tons. Of these, the largest amount is in Chile (9.3 million tons), followed by Australia (6.2 million tons). Whether that stock is sufficient for the global shift to electric driving remains to be seen. The price of lithium has certainly exploded in recent years.
Largest stock in Europe
In recent weeks there have been reports of stocks of rare earth metals being discovered. For example, on February 10 it became known that scientists in India in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in the far north of the country, according to the government, have found some 5.9 million tons of reserves of lithium. In January, the largest amount of rare earth metals in Europe was found in Sweden.
LOOK. Largest reserve of rare earths discovered in Sweden
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