Lithium is a chemical element that belongs to the group of alkali metals. Because of its intense chemical activity, it does not exist in nature in its free form, but rather within another metallic medium, which is often iron. It was discovered in 1800 by the Brazilian mineralogist José Bonifacio de Andrada while working in a mine. In this recently taken photo, an excavator is transporting lithium ore at the Sigma Lithium Xoxa mine in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil, a state that has some of the largest iron ore mines in the world, and foreign companies and investors have flocked to it in recent years, in search of lithium deposits for which global demand is increasing. Therefore, it has become a strategic material around which many global geostrategic conflicts take place. Lithium has become an essential element in the manufacture of batteries for modern devices, such as mobile phones and laptops, but the widest use of this element is in the field of manufacturing electric car batteries, which is now facing two crises, the first of which is related to the insane rise in the prices of lithium itself, and the second to the high demand for it by manufacturers. In light of its shortage in global supply.
While the expansion of the electric car industry represents the biggest double bet, economic and environmental, for the Chinese dragon, there is no problem for China in this field thanks to its possession of lithium mines and its control over some of its foreign markets. The United States faces a challenge in securing a suitable stock to continue developing electric cars that… It cannot do without relying on lithium batteries. Hence, lithium is no less strategically important than oil in the balance of international power, so the United States has shown a clear interest in lithium mines in Brazil, and other countries of the American continent! (Image from the Washington Post Leasing and Syndication Service)
2023-11-14 20:00:23
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