Introduction
Did you know that a typical cell phone contains over 40 minerals? Each component, from the display to the battery, is composed of some combination of minerals. While this may be surprising to most, minerals are an absolutely crucial part of providing us with technology, from consumer electronics to electronic vehicles to energy storage.
What are battery minerals?
Critical minerals are minerals that are essential for the use of energy technologies around the world. Battery minerals are a group of critical minerals that are used specifically in rechargeable batteries.
There are a variety of battery minerals, including lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite, manganese, aluminum oxide, tin and magnesium. Each battery mineral has different physical and chemical properties that enable them to be used in rechargeable batteries.
Three essential battery minerals used in creating rechargeable batteries are lithium, nickel and cobalt. When combined with other elements, these minerals power essential parts of our lives.
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Mineral |
Properties |
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Lithium |
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Cobalt |
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Nickel |
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Lithium
Lithium is the primary mineral used in rechargeable batteries and can be found in both rocks and underground brine reservoirs. More than 75% of the world’s lithium supply is found in the Lithium Triangle – where the borders of Bolivia, Argentina and Chile meet.
Mining
Lithium is naturally occurring and can be recovered in two ways: brine extraction and hard rock extraction. Lithium brine extraction uses evaporation ponds. Ponds filled with salt-rich water sit and over time, evaporation occurs. As the water and salt evaporate, a concentrated brine of lithium remains.
With hard rock mining, as the name suggests, lithium is extracted from minerals, including spodumene, lepidolite, petalite, amblygonite and eucryptite. Spodumene is the most abundant lithium-yielding mineral.
Processing
Lithium is processed differently depending on the manor of its extraction.
The lithium-rich brine undergoes a purification process to remove any contaminates. A chemical treatment is used to precipitate out products and byproducts that are then filtered. The remaining lithium carbonate is treated with soda ash and washed and dried into a final product.
Lithium extracted through hard rock mining requires a different process. After mining, ore is crushed and roasted. It is concentrated through a process called acid leaching, in which sulfuric acid is added to the ore before roasting, producing lithium sulfate.
Lime and soda ash is also added to remove magnesium and precipitate lithium carbonate from the solution.
Uses
As previously mentioned, lithium is the primary mineral used to manufacture rechargeable batteries, with over 80% of the world’s mined lithium used for just that. These batteries are used in numerous technologies, including electric vehicles, digital cameras, phones and laptops.
Lithium is also used in aluminum production, glass and ceramics, and lubricant and grease manufacturing due to its heat resistance and light weight.
Cobalt
Cobalt is another mineral that is critical to making rechargeable batteries. While pure cobalt cannot be found on earth, it is found in a variety of minerals. About 65% of the world’s cobalt derives from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Mining
Cobalt is primarily found and mined as a byproduct of existing nickel and copper mines. It occurs in nickel-cobalt sulfide deposits and copper-cobalt deposits. There are three types of ore deposits that contain cobalt: sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits, magmatic nickel sulfide deposits and nickel laterite deposits.
Other countries that produce cobalt include Russia, Australia and the Philippines. While the United States is not one of the top producers of cobalt, it consumes about 1/3 of the world’s production.
Processing
Like most minerals, cobalt requires processing to separate the metal from the raw ore. The raw ore goes through primary and secondary crushing to size the ore into smaller pieces for processing. The crushed ore is then sent to flotation.
Flotation separation utilizes hydrophobic and hydrophilic chemicals to separate desired minerals from unwanted materials. After the flotation process frees the cobalt particles, the material is dried and ready for use or further processing.
Uses
Cobalt is combined with other metals to create alloys with strong magnetism and is essential in creating lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles. About 50% of cobalt produced is used in rechargeable batteries.
Cobalt’s properties, specifically its thermal stability and high energy density, make it ideal to use in batteries. Its thermal stability helps prevent batteries from overheating, and its high energy density aids in energy storage and transfer.
Nickel
Nickel is the fifth-most common element found on earth. It occurs naturally in the earth’s crust and core and can be found in meteorites. More than 50% of global nickel resources are found in Australia, Indonesia, South Africa, Russia and Canada, with Indonesia as the world’s top producer of nickel.
Mining
Nickel is primarily mined from laterite deposits and sulfide deposits. Laterite deposits are found on the surface and are mined through open-cut mining. Open-cut mining is employed when minerals are close to the surface.
Topsoil is removed and rock is drilled and blasted, and the material is extracted for processing. Sulfide deposits typically require underground mining and sometimes initial open-cut mining to retrieve the mineral.
Processing
Laterite nickel deposits are first crushed and dried in a rotary drier. The material is then further dried in a rotary kiln, where chemicals are added to remove oxygen from the nickel oxide. The oxide is sent through an electric furnace to complete the chemical process, before being smelt.
Like cobalt, nickel sulfide deposits are crushed and processed through flotation separation. Special chemicals are added and the material is agitated, while waste material sinks and the sulfide particles rise.
After flotation, the concentrate can be leached or dried and smelted, producing nickel matte, which contains 25 to 45% nickel. The matte is further heated to remove slag and sulfur. The matte undergoes treatment to produce a usable product.
Uses
While nickel is most recognizably used in the United States for the five-cent coin, it has a range of other applications. Nickel is used as a cathode material in a variety of batteries, supplying current to the battery.
Because nickel is highly ductile and corrosion and oxidation resistant, it is commonly alloyed with other metals to enhance properties ideal for the chosen application. Most notably, nickel is used to produce stainless steel.
What is the future of battery minerals?
As technology grows and sustainable practices become more and more popular to power the world, demand for battery minerals is growing. The increase in electric vehicles or EVs requires more battery minerals to be mined and processed to create lithium-ion batteries.
Renewable energy grids utilize battery minerals to store wind and solar energy and many of our electronics rely on rechargeable batteries. The demand for battery minerals will only increase, demanding an increase in mining and production capacity as well.
