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hunter5226 t1_jegk2nk wrote

Reply to comment by chippingtommy in Inexpensive and environmentally friendly mechanochemical recycling process recovers 70% of lithium from batteries by chrisdh79

Can you provide evidence of a non-destructive lithium mine? Not saying I don't believe you, but I have just never heard of lithium mining as anything other than destructive.

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Beyond-Time t1_jegq5ku wrote

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/24/1123564599/chile-lithium-mining-atacama-desert

This area is largely uninhabitable for people, has few wildlife (note: not 0) and is not suitable for growing crops or housing any reserves. It's about as environmentally friendly as it gets. Now, if you consider evaporating water off of brine in a high altitude, uninhabitable desert as environmentally destructive, and would use the same term for destroying forests with much bio-diversity, than the term is meaningless.

Point being, this is where a large chunk of the worlds lithium comes from and it's a desert, and I would consider it non-destructive.

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