实际流转的物质
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.
- 材料
- Lithium
- 品种
- Spodumene concentrate, 6% Li2O, from an LCT pegmatite
- 起点
- Australia — Greenbushes, Western Australia — the highest-grade hard-rock lithium mine in the world
逐步追踪，逐境跨越
Australia · Greenbushes, Western Australia 持有方 Talison Lithium (矿业公司)
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.
为何选择此地: The pegmatite is here. Greenbushes was mined for tin for a century before anyone wanted the lithium.
Australia · Concentrator on site 持有方 Talison Lithium (矿业公司)
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.
其余部分的去向: 880 tonnes to tailings. Concentrating on site is essential — shipping the waste rock across an ocean would be absurd.
为何选择此地: You concentrate as close to the pit as possible, always. Freight is charged by the tonne.
China · Port Hedland or Bunbury to Chinese ports 持有方 Traders and converters (贸易商)
Bulk carrier to China
Shipped as bulk concentrate. This is the step that made spodumene a spot-traded commodity with a visible price.
为何选择此地: 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 持有方 Converter (化学品)
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.
其余部分的去向: 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.
为何选择此地: Energy, acid, chemical engineering and a qualified customer next door.
South Korea · Cathode and cell plants 持有方 Cathode and cell manufacturers (制造商)
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.
为何选择此地: High-nickel cathode expertise sits in a small number of Korean, Japanese and Chinese firms.
United States · Wherever it is sold 持有方 The driver (最终用户)
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.
为何选择此地: Four countries, two oceans, and about four months from blast to battery.
本文为示例演算，以公开的典型产率和回收率对既定起始量逐步推算，各比例可供核验；这不是某批具体货物的记录。路线事实——途经哪些国家、经历哪些工序，以及为何该材料不能在其他地方简单处理——均来源于公开报道。