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Lithium discovery - 12th January 2022

In California, there's something very valuable, lithium. Companies have moved to Salton Sea Lake to take advantage of lithium. They're looking for environmentally friendly ways to get it. It's used in rechargeable batteries.

The US mainly gets lithium from abroad. But Controlled Thermal Resources is a company which wants to change this. It plans to drill 2,300 metres underground for lithium. Jim Turner manages the company.

Jim Turner: "There's not too many lithium sites that are known in North America, but there's a few. This is definitely the largest known here in North America. My guess is this will end up being the largest lithium production site globally once we fully develop it."

Countries are becoming environmentally friendly. They're increasing the use of electric vehicles. And the lithium business is expected to grow quickly.

Jim Turner: "The lithium produced from here will go into electric vehicle batteries. And so our lithium product will end up for the most part with EVs made in the US might be some made in Europe."

Celebrities and fans of boat racing used to holiday at Salton Sea Lake. But because of climate change, the lake's disappearing and putting harmful dust in the air. This is causing a lot of breathing problems.

Researchers test the lake often. They want to make sure that digging for lithium won't cause more problems. Charles Diamond is one of the researchers.

Charles Diamond: "As far as hazards are concerned, I don't know OF really any hazards that exist specific to this type of lithium exploration that don't already exist for geothermal power production."