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Lithium does not occur on its own in nature but is found combined with other minerals. At our Jadar project, we discovered lithium in a new mineral in the Jadar Valley in Serbia, now known as jadarite.
Lithium is part of our portfolio of materials essential to a low-carbon future. Lithium is a key element needed for low-carbon technologies including the electrification of transport, large-scale batteries and energy storage. Double digit growth in lithium demand is forecast over the next decade.
We source our battery-grade lithium in the US from nearly a century’s worth of mining waste rock at our Boron operations in California.
Our process involves roasting and leaching waste rock to recover lithium. Since it involves separating lithium from waste rock that has already been mined, this breakthrough process is a more sustainable alternative to other sources of lithium supply.
Our demonstration plant in California has a design capacity of 10 tonnes per year of battery grade lithium. Priorities in 2021 include optimising the process to inform our feasibility assessment for progressing to a commercial scale plant. This plant would have an initial capacity of at least 5,000 tonnes per year of lithium, or enough to make batteries for approximately 70,000 electric vehicles.
We produce battery grade lithium carbonate that meets the strict quality assurance standards required by the electric vehicle industry.
Leo Jaime, Americas and Europe leo.jaime@riotinto.com
W: https://lithium.borax.com
Without lithium ion batteries you won’t have rapid mass adoption of electric vehicles or energy storage. And without the lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite anode and manganese supply chains to feed these battery plants, you won’t have lithium ion batteries.”
- Simon Moores, Managing Director, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence
Extracting lithium from mining waste
We have acquired the Rincon lithium project, a large undeveloped lithium brine project located in the Salta province of Argentina, an emerging hub for greenfield projects.
The project is a long life, scaleable resource capable of producing battery grade lithium carbonate. It has the potential to have one of the lowest carbon footprints in the industry, helping us deliver on our commitment to decarbonise our portfolio.
A vital component for clean technologies such as electric vehicles and battery storage, lithium will play an essential role in the transition to a low carbon economy. Double digit growth in lithium demand is forecast over the next decade.
Partnerships and collaboration are essential to bringing lithium from mine to market. For example, in June 2021 we announced a partnership with InoBat, a European battery technology and manufacturing company, to accelerate the establishment of a “cradle to cradle” battery manufacturing and recycling value chain in Serbia. The partnership will help us share information and knowledge on lithium processing, recycling and technologies for the next generation of batteries.
Through our membership of the European Battery Alliance and the European Raw Materials Alliance, we also support industry-wide initiatives aimed at building a competitive, sustainable and innovative value chain in Europe.
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As some data privacy laws regulate IP addresses and other information collected through the use of cookies as personal data, Rio Tinto’s processing of such personal data needs to comply with its Data Privacy Standard (see Part 1 of our Privacy Policy), and also applicable data privacy laws.
With the exception of the use of cookies (explained below), Rio Tinto generally does not seek to collect personal data through this website. However if you choose to provide personal data to Rio Tinto through this website (for example, by sending us an email), we will process that personal data to answer your query and if relevant, to manage our business relationship with you or your company. We won't process that personal data for other purposes except where required to meet our legal obligations or otherwise as authorised by law and notified to you.
Part 1 of this Privacy Policy contains the Rio Tinto Data Privacy Standard, which provides an overview of Rio Tinto’s approach to personal data processing. There is additional information in the appendices to the Data Privacy Standard, including information about disclosures, trans-border data transfers, the exercise of data subject rights and how to make complaints or obtain further information relating to Rio Tinto’s processing of your personal data.
If you choose to subscribe to our media releases or other communications, you can unsubscribe at any time (by following the instructions in the email or by contacting us at digital.comms@riotinto.com).
With your consent, our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site.
A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive.
As some data privacy laws regulate IP addresses and other information collected through the use of cookies as personal data, Rio Tinto’s processing of such personal data needs to comply with its Data Privacy Standard (see Part 1 of this Privacy Policy), and also applicable data privacy laws.
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