¿Qué es?
A soft, silvery metal so light it floats on water, and the element that lets a rechargeable battery store a lot of energy for very little weight.
¿Por qué importa?
Almost every phone, laptop and electric car on Earth runs on a lithium-ion battery. There is no drop-in replacement that matches it on energy per kilogram today.
Las secciones escritas más detalladas para este material aún no han sido publicadas. Todo lo que aparece a continuación se extrae directamente de los conjuntos de datos de origen y está completo.
De dónde proviene en la roca
Todos los minerales de mena →Estos son los minerales que realmente contienen lithium. Un yacimiento solo es un cuerpo mineral si uno de ellos está suficientemente concentrado para costear su extracción.
Lithium Brine
Not a mineral but a saturated salt solution beneath a salar. Concentrated by solar evaporation over 12-24 months, or…
Spodumene
The main hard-rock lithium mineral. Fresh spodumene contains up to 8% Li2O; concentrate is sold at about 6%.
Lepidolite
A lithium mica. Rich in fluorine, which complicates processing, but also carries rubidium and caesium.
Petalite
A lower-grade lithium silicate, historically important in glass and ceramics.
Quién lo produce
Verlo en un mapa →Mine production
Mine productionmetric tons 2025 (estimado) Total mundial 290,000 metric tons
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · USGS tonnages count CONTAINED LITHIUM METAL, not lithium carbonate. One tonne of lithium metal is about 5.32 tonnes of lithium carbonate (Li2CO3). · fuente ↗
Desplace la tabla lateralmente para ver las columnas restantes.
| País | Producción | Cuota mundial |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 92,000 | 31.7% |
| China | 62,000 | 21.4% |
| Chile | 56,000 | 19.3% |
| Zimbabwe | 28,000 | 9.7% |
| Argentina | 23,000 | 7.9% |
| Brazil | 12,000 | 4.1% |
| Mali | 9,400 | 3.2% |
| Canada | 5,600 | 1.9% |
| Portugal | 380.0 | 0.1% |
| Other countries | Zero | — |
| United States | Withheld | — |
| Total mundial | 290,000 | 100% |
«Withheld» significa que el USGS suprimió el dato para evitar revelar información de una empresa concreta — no equivale a cero. Las filas por país no siempre suman el total mundial porque la fuente redondea cada cifra de forma independiente y no siempre desglosa una línea de «otros países».
Quién posee las reservas
Reserves
Reservesmetric tons 2025
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · fuente ↗
| País | Reservas | Cuota mundial |
|---|---|---|
| Chile | 9,200,000 | 24.9% |
| Australia | 8,400,000 | 22.7% |
| China | 4,600,000 | 12.4% |
| United States | 4,400,000 | 11.9% |
| Argentina | 4,400,000 | 11.9% |
| Other countries | 2,400,000 | 6.5% |
| Canada | 1,600,000 | 4.3% |
| Brazil | 540,000 | 1.5% |
| Zimbabwe | 500,000 | 1.4% |
| Mali | 370,000 | 1.0% |
| Portugal | 60,000 | 0.2% |
| Total mundial | 37,000,000 | 100% |
Precio
annual average-real, battery-grade lithium carbonate, dollars per metric ton
Promedio anualdollars per metric ton
Base: annual average-real, battery-grade lithium carbonate, dollars per metric ton. Promedios anuales publicados en USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · fuente ↗. Estos son promedios anuales de referencia, no una cotización de mercado en tiempo real.
Minas que lo producen
Todas las minas →
Greenbushes
The largest hard-rock lithium mine in the world.
Pilgangoora
One of the largest independent hard-rock lithium operations.
Salar de Atacama
The highest-grade and most productive lithium brine operation in the world.
Salar del Hombre Muerto
The longest-running direct lithium extraction operation in the world.
Thacker Pass
The largest known lithium resource in the United States.
Dónde se procesa y refina
| Planta | Tipo | Etapa | País | Función |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CATL Ningde Plants | Gigafábrica | Componente | China | Entrada |
| Gigafactory Nevada | Gigafábrica | Componente | United States | Entrada |
| Kwinana Lithium Hydroxide Plant | Planta química | Refinación | Australia | Entrada |
| Qinghai & Sichuan Lithium Chemical Cluster | Planta química | Refinación | China | Entrada |
Para qué se usa
Todos los mercados finales →| Mercado final | Lo que hace allí | Importancia |
|---|---|---|
| Electric Vehicles | The cathode and electrolyte salt | Definición de |
| Consumer Electronics | Battery | Definición de |
| Grid Storage | Lithium-ion systems | Definición de |
| Power Grids | Battery storage on the network | Importante |
| Robotics & Automation | On-board battery | Importante |
Cuánto necesita una tecnología
| Tecnología | Cantidad | Citado | Base |
|---|---|---|---|
| LFP Lithium-Ion Battery About 0.09 kg Li per kWh. | 5.50–8.00 kg contained lithium | per 75 kWh pack | Contained metal |
| NMC Lithium-Ion Battery About 0.10 kg Li per kWh of cell capacity. | 6.00–9.00 kg contained lithium | per 75 kWh pack | Contained metal, not carbonate |
Indicative range compiled from published technology studies and chemistry; verify against a manufacturer specification before use. Ejecute estas cifras a cualquier escala en la calculadora de materiales →
Controles de exportación
| País | Control | Se aplica a |
|---|---|---|
| China | Export licensing requirement for materials and technologies | Antimony (2024), bismuth (2025), synthesized diamond (2025), gallium (2023), germanium (2023), graphite (2023), indium (2025), magnesium materials (2024), molybdenum (2025), rare earths (2025), silver (2026), tellurium (2025), tungsten (2025), and items related to lithium batteries and artificial graphite anode materials (2025). ↗ |
| Namibia | Export ban | Ores and concentrates of cobalt, graphite, lithium, manganese, and rare earths (2023). ↗ |
| Zimbabwe | Export ban | Lithium ore (2022). ↗ |
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, table 4 — controls in effect as of January 2026, excluding controls since lifted.
Síguelo a través de las fronteras
Todos los recorridos →Adónde va realmente una partida de este material: cada país, cada custodio y qué queda atrás en cada paso.
Australian spodumene to a battery, the fast way Eight weeks instead of eighteen months, at the cost of a great deal more energy. Chilean brine to a battery in a car The ore is water. The first year and a half of processing is done by the sun, for free.