[Rockhounds] Arkansas May Have Vast Lithium Reserves, Researchers Say

[Alan Goldstein]

I'm aware that Hicks Dome in the fluorspar district has vast quantities of
rare earths used in magnets. An ISGS person is working to get political
support to encourage the development of mines to exact ore. It has already
been tested for content with analysis equipment not designed for those rare
earths specifically and the results were impressive. And there are deeper
fluorite deposits in greater amounts than have been mined in the past 125
years. Now if the price of fluorite can reach a level to make them
economical to mine... Sorry - no links. Just info from a conversation I had
with a knowledgeable geologist earlier this year.

Alan G.

On Mon, Oct 21, 2024 at 8:29 PM Kreigh Tomaszewski <kreigh at gmail.com> wrote:

> Researchers said in a recent article that Arkansas may have 19 million tons
> of lithium, which is used in rechargeable batteries for important products
> like phones and electric cars.
>
> The researchers said in their article released last month in the journal
> Science Advances they had “calculated that there are 5.1 to 19 million tons
> of lithium in Smackover Formation brines in southern Arkansas,” making up
> “35 to 136% of the current US lithium resource estimate.”
>
> According to a Monday release from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), “the
> Smackover Formation is a relic of an ancient sea that left an extensive,
> porous, and permeable limestone geologic unit that extends under parts of
> Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida.”
> Lithium, which has been labeled by the USGS as a critical mineral, has been
> often obtained from brines or salt flats they evaporate into. According to
> a projection from the International Energy Agency, demand for lithium could
> increase by more than 40 times by 2040.
>
>
> https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/21/business/energy-environment/arkansas-lithium-ev-batteries.html
>
>
> https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/researchers-say-arkansas-may-have-19m-tons-of-lithium-critical-for-battery-power/ar-AA1sFKbv
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