How developing the US lithium battery supply chain will improve domestic supply

This video interview with Emily Hersh from Luna Lithium covers two key questions:

1. How is the US domestic lithium battery supply chain evolving?
2. What are some of the biggest exploration projects underway and how will they improve US domestic lithium supply?

At the end of the video, Emily also shares some insights into the exploration project Luna Lithium is developing in Nevada. You can watch the full interview below and read the key takeaways underneath.

The development of the domestic supply chain in the US

The domestic supply chain in the US is developing not from the ground up, but from large investments and significant policy support for battery manufacturing as well as the manufacturing or processing of active materials. This includes cathodes and anodes. This top-down push is laying the groundwork for unlocking the economics of multiple domestic lithium projects over the next decade.

Current exploration projects and how they will improve domestic lithium supply

If you take a look at the different types of lithium-hosting geologies that are currently under exploration in the US – in Nevada and in Utah – you’ve got some very interesting sediment-hosted brine projects. You’ve also got a lot of clays and claystone sediment-type projects. Luna Lithium is also looking at a lot of pegmatites on the East Coast.

There are also interesting non-conventional brines, including geothermal brine exploration, happening in the Salton Sea in California, as well as interesting oilfield brine exploration in Arkansas.

With better infrastructure and additional investments in parts of the supply chain that come next, the industry will be able to unlock the value in deposits in these different formations but along different timelines.

Luna Lithium’s exploration project in Nevada

Luna Lithium is developing an exploration project on the Columbus Salt Marsh in central Nevada. When Fastmarkets spoke with Emily Hersh during the Lithium Supply & Battery Raw Materials 2022 conference, the company had just put its first drill hole in and was waiting for the results. The company is looking to understand how lithium is present in the brines in Nevada and wants to understand how these brine sediments interact.

Learn more about the risks to the supply chain and key trends in the market

Emily was one of many experts to take the stage at the recent Fastmarkets Lithium Supply & Battery Raw Materials conference held in Phoenix in June, 2022.

You can read more about the topics covered and what we learned from this event when you click here. This includes seeing some of the highlights from the event on video.

Take a deep dive into some of the other factors at play in the lithium and battery raw materials market with three of our most recent reports. Simply click the link to each one below to read more:

1. The risky road ahead for electric vehicles
2. Why unconventional lithium resources shouldn’t divert focus of the market to address supply shortages
3. The EV battery chemistry debate just got more complicated

Visit our dedicated battery raw materials page to discover more insights on the factors at play in the industry in 2022 and beyond.