Lithium 

• News: State-owned Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL) has received environmental clearance from the Argentine govt for deep exploration of five brine lithium blocks.

• About Lithium 

  • It is a soft, silvery-white metal.

  • It is highly reactive and flammable, and must be stored in mineral oil.

  • It is an alkali metal and a rare metal.

  • Uses:

    • Lithium metal is used to make useful alloys.

      • For example, with lead to make ‘white metal’ bearings for motor engines, 

      • with aluminum to make aircraft parts, and 

      • with magnesium to make armor plates.

    • In Thermonuclear reactions.

    • To make electrochemical cells. Lithium is an important component in Electric Vehicles, Laptops etc. 

  • Countries with Largest Reserves:

    • Chile> Australia> Argentina

  • Three nations of South America: Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina have rich resources of lithium.

    • They are collectively referred to as the ‘Lithium Triangle’.

     

  • Australia is the world’s biggest exporter of lithium with most of it going to China, which dominates the lithium ion battery pro­duction market.

    • China controls ~80% of global lithium-ion battery manufacturing currently.

Source: Times of India