Australia mines more lithium than any other country — but most of that lithium is refined in China, which dominates the world's refined production. Now, countries such as Australia and the U.S. are looking to refine more lithium at home, and North Carolina is well-positioned to benefit.
A lithium refinery is raising money to ramp up production in Greensboro. Sheeba Dawood cofounded Minerva Lithium with her former professor at UNC Greensboro, Hemali Rathnayake.
Dawood said the majority of lithium refining happens overseas. Australia, China and Chile mine most of the world’s lithium, but China refines more than Chile and Australia combined, according to data from the International Energy Agency.
However, North Carolina is becoming a hub for the mineral, following a string of billion-dollar private investments. International mining company Albemarle, which owns mines in Australia and Chile, plans to reopen the Kings Mountain lithium mine in Gaston County. Toyota built a battery manufacturing plant in Randolph County and may be looking to shore up its domestic supply of battery-grade lithium products. Vietnamese electric vehicle manufacturer Vinfast has begun developing land in Chatham County, though local news outlets report the project has been plagued by delays.
But it’s not just car companies that are looking to get their hands on refined lithium products:
“It’s used in greases and lubricants and then, you know, battery-grade lithium,” Dawood said.
How much lithium does an EV battery require?
Dawood hopes to raise $5 million to hire enough workers to produce 200 kilograms of lithium carbonate per day — enough to make over 1,000 EV batteries a year.
The refinery can process impure lithium from brine, hard rock or recycled batteries, sources that allow it to recover lithium that might not otherwise be viable. For example, some mines in Nevada pump mineral-rich brine from underground into surface ponds. The brine evaporates, leaving behind a highly concentrated solution with lithium and some impurities.
At Dawood’s facility, nanomosaic absorbers strain out those impurities through microscopic pores.
“We have also gone for a material which is very simple to use, like a sponge,” Dawood said.
The result is a white powder called lithium carbonate that varies in purity, depending on who’s buying.
Mineral refining is a water-intensive process; 500,000 gallons of water yield a metric ton of lithium. But Dawood says Minerva Lithium has made strides to reduce water usage through recycling wastewater, using 95% less water.
Car and battery manufacturers don’t just purchase the refined lithium — they can also provide the refinery with the raw materials through black mass, the shredded remains of end-of-life batteries. Dawood said the facility has conducted successful test runs with black mass, but is still working on scaling up this process.
