Overview
ABSTRACT
Lithium was discovered in 1817 by Johan August Arfvedson during his analysis of petalite which is a natural lithium aluminium silicate. Due to its high reactivity, lithium never freely occurs in nature, and rather, only appears in compounds. Lithium can be extracted from a number of pegmatitic minerals, and from clays and brines. Clay and brine deposits, most notably in the USA and South America, are the primary global source of lithium production. Lithium has numerous applications: metallurgy, chemistry and nuclear. In the near future, increased supplies of lithium will be required in the battery sector, as its lightness and reducing properties guarantee high densities of energy mass and volumetric efficiency.
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Read the articleAUTHORS
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Pierre BLAZY: Honorary Professor - Former Director, École Nationale Supérieure de Géologie (ENSG)
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El-Aïd JDID: Doctor of Science - Research Engineer, Laboratoire Environnement et Minéralurgie (LEM), UMR 7569, Nancy University (ENSG-INPL), CNRS
INTRODUCTION
Lithium was discovered in 1817 by Johann August Arfvedson in a natural aluminum silicate: petalite. Jöns Jacob Berzelius gave the new element the name lithium (from the Greek lithos = stone) to reflect its mineral origin.
Since 1959, brine mining has grown in economic importance to the point where some companies, such as Québec Lithium Corp. have closed their mining operations. But the development of new lithium applications in the 1970s to 1975 revived mining operations in Australia, Canada, Zimbabwe and China. However, salt lakes now account for most of the world's lithium production, thanks in particular to new brine mining operations in the USA and South America (Chile, Argentina, Bolivia).
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Lithium metallurgy
Physical and chemical properties
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1. Main lithium-producing companies
The main companies producing lithium from brines are the following [60] [61] :
Sociedad Quimica y Minera (S.Q.M.) and Chemetall GmbH, Atacama salt flats, Chile;
Sociedad Chilena del Litio, Atacama salt flat (Chile);
Chemical Foote Corp, Lithium, Silver...
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