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Lithium

Why lithium prices have been on a roller coaster ride

by Henry Epp
Feb 6, 2024
Just a few years ago, lithium prices surged with expectations that EV demand was going to take off. Now prices are down about 80%.
Two U.S. lithium companies have cut jobs and pulled back their capital spending recently. Above, salt evaporation ponds in California's Mojave Desert, where a company plans to extract lithium from the briny water.
David McNew/Getty Images
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In Zimbabwe, rolling blackouts hobble mining goals

by ish Mafundikwa
Apr 5, 2023
The country has an ambitious goal to reach $12 billion in mining exports in 2023, but industry leaders say they can't get ahead without reliable electricity.
Zimbabwe has the largest African lithium deposits, a mineral crucial to electric vehicle batteries. Above, workers inspect an open cast lithium mine in Goromonzi, Zimbabwe.
Tafadzwa Ufumeli/Getty Images
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Could the sand battery make renewable energy more dependable?

by Stephen Beard
Jul 29, 2022
A start-up in Finland unveils the world’s first commercial heat storage system using sand to solve the problem of the variability of solar and wind power.
The sand battery at Kankaanpaa in southwest Finland.
Courtesy Polar Night Energy
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The price of lithium is way up. And right now, electric cars depend on it.

by Stephanie Hughes
Jan 26, 2022
The metal is a key ingredient in the batteries that power all those electric cars.
The price of lithium, used in the batteries of electric vehicles, has increased by more than 40% in the past year.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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Lithium may fuel a mining revival in England's Cornwall

by Stephen Beard
Oct 19, 2020
Tin mining in Cornwall ground to a halt more than 20 years ago. Now the county has discovered what may be a rich new source of underground wealth.
The harbor at Mullion Cove, Cornwall, United Kingdom.
Hugh R Hastings/Getty Images
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Why are the Dreamliner's batteries malfunctioning?

by Scott Tong
Feb 1, 2013
Big battery packs are a balancing challenge -- if the cells work unevenly, one can overheat and burst into flames.
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That battery in your cell phone packs a lot of history

by Scott Tong
Jan 31, 2013
Prof. John Goodenough discovered the advance that made the lithium-ion battery -- and the wireless world -- possible. But now another breakthrough is needed.
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Codebreaker

Jelly, not just for donuts, for batteries too

by John Moe
Sep 12, 2011
One of the biggest problems with the lithium batteries used in everything from laptops to electric cars, its liquid electrolyte. It gets really hot...
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