, Columnist
Peak Lithium? Not So Fast
The world could just as easily face a glut as a dearth.
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Does the world have enough lithium? It depends who you ask.
A 2008 study by French researcher William Tahil found there were just 3.9 million metric tons of recoverable deposits globally in mineral ores and Andean salt lakes. That's little enough that the world would risk running out as demand for lithium-ion car batteries and utility-scale storage ramps up over the coming decades.