Lithium Jackpot In Appalachia

(They better watch their ass trying to dig lithium out from under some of these Appalachians who haven't let strangers roam around on their mountains for hundreds of years. js.)

In the latest news from this front, while it has been long known that there were deposits of lithium in American Appalachia, on Wednesday, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum took to his official X account to announce that these deposits are considerably larger than previously thought.

A press release issued Tuesday by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) has more details.
The southern Appalachians hold an estimated 1.43 million metric tons of lithium oxide, concentrated in the Carolinas, and the northern Appalachians hold an estimated 900,000 metric tons, concentrated in Maine and New Hampshire, according to estimates in a new USGS scientific paper published in Natural Resources Research. The lithium is present in pegmatites, large-grained rocks similar to granite.
“This research shows that the Appalachians contain enough lithium to help meet the nation’s growing needs – a major contribution to U.S. mineral security, at a time when global lithium demand is rising rapidly,” said USGS Director Ned Mamula. “USGS mineral science is the leading edge in the effort to restore America’s mineral independence by mapping our nation’s mineral resources. Everything else follows on the science: permitting reform and other policy changes to support investment in clean, responsible mining to 21st century standards, and mining workforce training for new American jobs. The United States was the dominant world producer of lithium three decades ago, and this research highlights the abundant potential to reclaim our mineral independence.”

Lithium has a wide range of uses. Aside from batteries for everything ranging from smartphones to electric vehicles, lithium is used to make heat-resistant glass and ceramics, lubricants, pharmaceuticals (lithium salts are widely used to treat bipolar disorder and depression), metal alloys, and a lot more. And, at the moment, we import the vast majority of the lithium used in the United States, mostly from Chile and Argentina. These are (mostly) friendly countries, so it's perhaps better than getting it from China, but foreign sources can be cut off, relationships can change, and other countries can outbid us. Domestic supplies are secure.
Furthermore, much of Appalachia has substantial mining infrastructure in place. These finds will not only provide a secure domestic source of a vital, strategic resource but also revitalize the mining sector in Appalachia, which means "jobs, baby, jobs."
According to USGS, this find would yield enough lithium to make:
The estimated 2.3 million metric tons of lithium oxide in the Appalachian region would be enough lithium for batteries in:
1.6 million grid-scale batteries large enough to stabilize an electric grid.
130 million electric vehicles.
180 billion laptops, or a 1,000 year-supply of laptops for the world (at 2025 levels).
500 billion cellphones, or 60 cellphones for each person on earth.