It is necessary to exploit the lithium they have

There are still those who wonder why the United States, despite its many problems, continues to be the number one global power, while at the same time Spain has fallen out of the top ten of the strongest economies (in terms of GDP) in the world. The world, on the way to it He falls Is it also in the top 15, and being displaced from the featured positions by countries like South Korea, Mexico or Indonesia very soon? Perhaps the different attitudes when it comes to the exploitation of natural resources on the part of one government or another have something to do with this: while in Spain, resources such as local coal have remained dormant for more than a century. The righteous and the brave who dare to exploit other things such as lithium or uranium find a thousand obstacles. In the United States, the opposite happens: the American government, which is not closing its coal mines and plans to open the exploitation of uranium, grants a nevada lithium A $2.26 billion loan to develop the country's largest lithium deposit.

Mine and processing plant

Lithium Nevada, a subsidiary of Lithium Americas, plans to build a lithium carbonate processing plant next to the mine. Thacker Pass, Which contains the largest significant reserves of lithium in the United States. The project is behind General Motors, which announced in January 2023 an investment of $650 million in the company. Is Cupra or Seat, which are integrated into the Volkswagen Group, or Iveco – which is part of the Stellantis group and which has grown by swallowing up generic ENASA-Pegàs – something somewhat similar? No: especially from the government of Spain – a country that also hosts important lithium deposits, specifically in Extremadura – no one is proposing anything similar to one or the other. Meanwhile, left-wing environmentalist – and neighborhood – movements are trying to unequivocally block a project, Extremadura New Energy, which has the backing of the Extremadura junta to build the most important lithium mine in southern Europe in 2013. Place ValdefloresNext to the city of Caceres. In the United States of America, those who They oppose They are the Souchon, a tribe of Native Americans who consider the land covered by the site sacred, but the US government appears to have its priorities straight, as evidenced by the granting of the loan.

Lithium for the United States

The Thacker Pass plant will produce 40,000 tons of lithium carbonate annually to make lithium-ion batteries, the most popular in the automotive industry for use in electric vehicles. The project is supported by the US Government Department of Energy, which, in addition to the loan, explains through the following statements: “The development of this project will strengthen national battery supply chains and reduce dependence on unreliable foreign sources.” They explain.