There’s lithium in them thar hills
This certainly seems like good news:
The USGS is saying that Appalachia contains an estimated 2.3 million metric tons of undiscovered, economically recoverable lithium, enough to replace 328 years of U.S. imports at last year’s level. …
As lithium demand is projected to grow more than 48-fold by 2040, driven by electric vehicles and energy storage technologies, securing new domestic sources has become increasingly critical.
USDS Director Ned Mamula notes that the US was the dominant world producer of lithium three decades ago. The newly published lithium resource estimates are preliminary, and much more work is needed to fully realize our current mineral capacity.
Spodumene in pegmatites
$65B lithium mother lode hidden beneath Appalachian Mountains could supply US with power for centuries
https://nypost.com/2026/04/29/science/65-billion-lithium-haul-could-power-us-for-328-years/
$65 bil doesn’t sound like much compared to mining for gold or silver. It’s a key element for the processes inside a battery, but it doesn’t take much lithium to do so.
It won’t be trivial to get the permits to mine lithium in Appalachia.
When Solid State batteries arrive, we won’t need quite so much lithium.
“ Spodumene in pegmatites”
I was going to lookup what heck that means but I decided guessing would be more fun.
Something about potato patties?
Star Trek transporter accident?
Come and listen to my story ’bout a man named Jed,
A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed,
Then one day he was shootin’ at some food,
And up through the ground come a silvery flood.
Lithium, that is. Metal salts. High voltage.
Well, the first thing you know old Jed’s a billionaire,
The EV folks said, “Jed, move thy self up there!”
Said, “California is the place you ought to be,”
So they loaded up the truck and they moved to Beverly.
Hills, that is. Charging stations. Movie stars.
(Thanks to Google Gemini)
Lithium mining tends to produce toxic dust and contaminated water supplies. Which isn’t to say we shouldn’t do it, but I wonder if people will care a little less about safety concerns because it’s set to happen in Appalachia. (At least J.D. Vance could finally have a good topic for a “Hillbilly Elegy” sequel.)