DEMAND for hard-rock lithium is forecast to increase 40-fold between 2022-2040, driven by global sales of electric cars and batteries, a US-based investment research firm has said.
Soaring demand for hard rock lithium coupled with firm pricing comes as a huge windfall for Zimbabwe, which holds some of the world’s largest hard rock lithium reserves and was the sixth largest lithium producer in the world in 2021, according to the US Geological Survey Data.
“Hard-rock lithium forecast to dominate global lithium supply by 2030. This comes as the market-preferred lithium product in NMC batteries, is less expensive to produce from hard-rock minerals.
“Global lithium production from hard rock resources currently established at 450 000 metric tonnes is expected to grow three-fold to 1,547 000 metric tonnes by 2030, from 55 percent of current production to 65 percent,” Oregon further added.
There are currently six operational hard rock lithium projects in Zimbabwe and there are more mines planned. The projects represent over US$1,4 billion of investment from Chinese mining and battery manufacturing companies over the past year. These include Sabi Star Lithium Tantalum Project, Arcadia Hard Rock Lithium Mine, Bikita Hard Rock Lithium Mine, and the Zulu Lithium Project.
Globally, there are two main types of commercial lithium, which is brines and hard rock. Brines occur mostly in the “lithium triangle” of Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia, and are extremely capital intensive, with mines typically coming into production after 6-15 years of development.
Hard rock, or pegmatites that contain the lithium-bearing mineral spodumene, now represents the majority of the global lithium supply (particularly from Aust
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