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Hard-rock lithium is mined and floated like any other ore, then shipped as a concentrate to be cracked open with heat and acid. It is faster to start, faster to stop and faster to expand than a salar — which is why hard rock, not brine, supplied most of the growth of the last decade.
- 소재
- Lithium
- 유형
- Spodumene concentrate, 6% Li2O, from an LCT pegmatite
- 출발지
- Australia — Greenbushes, Western Australia — the highest-grade hard-rock lithium mine in the world
단계별, 국경별
Australia · Greenbushes, Western Australia 보유자 Talison Lithium (채굴업체)
Drill, blast, load, haul
Conventional open-pit mining of a zoned pegmatite. The ore is unusually rich in lithium for hard rock, which is why this mine stays profitable through price crashes that shut others.
왜 이곳인가: The pegmatite is here. Greenbushes was mined for tin for a century before anyone wanted the lithium.
Australia · Concentrator on site 보유자 Talison Lithium (채굴업체)
Crushing and floating to a concentrate
Crushed, ground, and separated by dense-media separation and flotation until the spodumene is concentrated to about 6% Li2O.
나머지는 어떻게 되었는가: 880 tonnes to tailings. Concentrating on site is essential — shipping the waste rock across an ocean would be absurd.
왜 이곳인가: You concentrate as close to the pit as possible, always. Freight is charged by the tonne.
China · Port Hedland or Bunbury to Chinese ports 보유자 Traders and converters (트레이더)
Bulk carrier to China
Shipped as bulk concentrate. This is the step that made spodumene a spot-traded commodity with a visible price.
왜 이곳인가: The converters are in China. Australia has built some conversion capacity, and found out how hard commissioning a lithium chemical plant to battery specification really is.
China · Sichuan or Jiangxi 보유자 Converter (화학)
Roasting at 1,050 °C, then acid
The concentrate is calcined to flip alpha-spodumene into the beta form, then digested in concentrated sulfuric acid and purified into lithium hydroxide or carbonate.
나머지는 어떻게 되었는가: The sulfuric acid used here is largely a by-product of oil refining and metal smelting — the same sulfur that came off a heavy crude barrel elsewhere in this atlas.
왜 이곳인가: Energy, acid, chemical engineering and a qualified customer next door.
South Korea · Cathode and cell plants 보유자 Cathode and cell manufacturers (제조사)
Cathode, cell, pack
Hydroxide is preferred over carbonate for high-nickel cathodes because it calcines at a lower temperature. It becomes cathode powder, then a coated electrode, then a sealed cell.
왜 이곳인가: High-nickel cathode expertise sits in a small number of Korean, Japanese and Chinese firms.
United States · Wherever it is sold 보유자 The driver (최종 사용자)
A long-range electric car
The same 8 kg of lithium as the Chilean route delivers — from 1,000 tonnes of rock instead of a million litres of brine.
왜 이곳인가: Four countries, two oceans, and about four months from blast to battery.
이것은 작업 예시이다. 공표된 출발 수량을 공표된 일반적인 수율 및 회수율에 따라 추적한 것이므로 비율은 검증 가능하다. 특정 선적 기록이 아니다. 경로 사실—어느 나라, 어떤 공정, 그리고 왜 해당 소재를 다른 곳에서 처리할 수 없는지—은 공개 보고를 바탕으로 정리되었다.