59 min
Why all the fuss over the “world’s biggest lithium resource” in Nevada? with Dr. Tom Benson The Minerals Manhattan Podcast
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- Investing
Understanding the conditions that led to the formation of lithium deposits is critically important to:
· Finding new lithium deposits
· Finding the highest grade parts of these discoveries
· Figuring out how to process the lithium out
Dr. Tom Benson is the VP of Global Exploration for Lithium Americas and he is a leader in figuring out lithium geology. He authored a scientific paper on the lithium resources of the McDermitt Caldera. What quickly followed were hundreds of articles celebrating the discovery of world’s largest lithium resource in a US supervolcano in sources that range from
The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/09/nevada-lithium-geopolitics/675325/New York Post
https://nypost.com/2023/09/11/lithium-deposit-found-in-us-mcdermitt-caldera/) The Daily Mail
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12504841/Worlds-largest-lithium-deposit-McDermitt-Caldera-US.htmlTom joins Minerals Manhattan Podcast for an in-depth conversation on his paper in Scientific Advances (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adh8183) to explain how all that lithium got there in the first place, why it is so concentrated, and what that means for a world hungry for lithium to power EVs.
He gives us a Reader’s Digest version of what clays are, starting with the two main ways in which clays form – physical detrital weathering vs. neoformation in water – and getting to the key point that the clays in the McDermitt Caldera are neoformed authigenic smectites due to the high magnesium/aluminium ratios, meaning they formed in an alkaline lake environment. These high magnesium smectites have lithium concentrations up to 5000 ppm.
Tom then explains the illitization enrichment process that leads to the highest lithium concentrations of up to 12,000 ppm, and how in the case of the McDermitt Caldera this concentration occurred under high temperature rather than high pressure, which is what allows this deposit to occur so close to the surface. He explains where the lithium occurs inside these clay minerals or between the sheets.
Tom finishes up with an explanation of the split between Lithium Americas and Lithium Argentina, and why he’s lucky to be working with a team who understands the long term value created by fundamental science.
Get more Tom:
https://www.tombenson.rocks/
https://twitter.com/thomasrbenson
https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasrbenson/
Dr. Benson received his Ph.D. in volcanology from Stanford University in 2017 for his research on global lithium resources associated with large magma chambers. His research has gained international acclaim, appearing in peer-reviewed publications such as Science and Nature, and covered in a wide variety of media outlets from The Atlantic to Fox News and NPR. Prior to his current position as Vice President of Global Exploration at Lithium Argentina, Dr. Benson was Vice President of Global Exploration at Lithium Americas, Adjunct Assistant Professor at New York University, Research Associate at the American Museum of Natural History, Visiting Scholar at Columbia University, Fulbright Scholar in at the Iceland GeoSurvey, Research Associate at MIT, and undergraduate at Harvard U
Understanding the conditions that led to the formation of lithium deposits is critically important to:
· Finding new lithium deposits
· Finding the highest grade parts of these discoveries
· Figuring out how to process the lithium out
Dr. Tom Benson is the VP of Global Exploration for Lithium Americas and he is a leader in figuring out lithium geology. He authored a scientific paper on the lithium resources of the McDermitt Caldera. What quickly followed were hundreds of articles celebrating the discovery of world’s largest lithium resource in a US supervolcano in sources that range from
The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/09/nevada-lithium-geopolitics/675325/New York Post
https://nypost.com/2023/09/11/lithium-deposit-found-in-us-mcdermitt-caldera/) The Daily Mail
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12504841/Worlds-largest-lithium-deposit-McDermitt-Caldera-US.htmlTom joins Minerals Manhattan Podcast for an in-depth conversation on his paper in Scientific Advances (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adh8183) to explain how all that lithium got there in the first place, why it is so concentrated, and what that means for a world hungry for lithium to power EVs.
He gives us a Reader’s Digest version of what clays are, starting with the two main ways in which clays form – physical detrital weathering vs. neoformation in water – and getting to the key point that the clays in the McDermitt Caldera are neoformed authigenic smectites due to the high magnesium/aluminium ratios, meaning they formed in an alkaline lake environment. These high magnesium smectites have lithium concentrations up to 5000 ppm.
Tom then explains the illitization enrichment process that leads to the highest lithium concentrations of up to 12,000 ppm, and how in the case of the McDermitt Caldera this concentration occurred under high temperature rather than high pressure, which is what allows this deposit to occur so close to the surface. He explains where the lithium occurs inside these clay minerals or between the sheets.
Tom finishes up with an explanation of the split between Lithium Americas and Lithium Argentina, and why he’s lucky to be working with a team who understands the long term value created by fundamental science.
Get more Tom:
https://www.tombenson.rocks/
https://twitter.com/thomasrbenson
https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasrbenson/
Dr. Benson received his Ph.D. in volcanology from Stanford University in 2017 for his research on global lithium resources associated with large magma chambers. His research has gained international acclaim, appearing in peer-reviewed publications such as Science and Nature, and covered in a wide variety of media outlets from The Atlantic to Fox News and NPR. Prior to his current position as Vice President of Global Exploration at Lithium Argentina, Dr. Benson was Vice President of Global Exploration at Lithium Americas, Adjunct Assistant Professor at New York University, Research Associate at the American Museum of Natural History, Visiting Scholar at Columbia University, Fulbright Scholar in at the Iceland GeoSurvey, Research Associate at MIT, and undergraduate at Harvard U
59 min