The 'white gold rush': Inside a lithium mine, where stores of recyclable energy lie | Nightline

The 'white gold rush': Inside a lithium mine, where stores of recyclable energy lie | Nightline

Lithium powers many of our devices as well as electric vehicles. Western states are believed to hold an immense amount of the metal and some say it could help the U.S. reach its climate goals.

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50 Comments

  1. / Almigghtydre on December 5, 2022 at 3:42 am

    Mother Nature creating lithium dumps? That’s logical

  2. bucketheadrox on December 5, 2022 at 3:42 am

    Here’s a challenge. Up production by 1000%. Then make a new video about how good it is for the climate. "We can regulate that" what u gone do? Meter lithium battery sales?

  3. Daryl B. Pain on December 5, 2022 at 3:43 am

    I love how environmentalist are just as butt headed as trump supporters to get climate change under control.

  4. b7ray32 on December 5, 2022 at 3:44 am

    These clowns walking around outside in face diapers….man wtf

  5. Erik Hadinger on December 5, 2022 at 3:44 am

    With water being such a precious commodity, Why do we just waste it?
    Man made climate change is a farce, Nevada used to be 1/3 giant lake did man made climate change cause the lake to go away? Death Valley used to be a giant lake did man made climate change cause it to go away?

  6. Jonathan Lindsey on December 5, 2022 at 3:45 am

    Beat them kids for being too noisy with those toys cause I’m ever so fatigued

  7. Tom Acquilano on December 5, 2022 at 3:46 am

    This video was going well until Biden entered the picture.

  8. Crazy ivan on December 5, 2022 at 3:49 am

    Need to see a comparison of fracking for oil and this brine water lithium. Wonder what happens to insects and animals that have contact with these large bodies of toxic water.

  9. Gregory Braun on December 5, 2022 at 3:50 am

    Yeah go kill flowers in china instead

  10. Nick Zussino on December 5, 2022 at 3:51 am

    Do a story on Graphene Manufacturing Group. New Graphene Ion Battery does not need Lithium.

  11. Bad Cholesterol on December 5, 2022 at 3:53 am

    Hey greentards, learn introductory physics before trying to talk about "climate change" and the "need for electric vehicles."

  12. Nitty-Gritty Truth on December 5, 2022 at 3:56 am

    Climate change is a scam

  13. Frank J on December 5, 2022 at 3:57 am

    Do it in America, or else the price will rise like anything else.

  14. mrbonzzai on December 5, 2022 at 3:57 am

    Oh no. The single species of flower. Aquifers do replenish eventually. I.e, water seeps back in.

  15. HelloWorld on December 5, 2022 at 3:58 am

    So we why do we care about that one flower species? Like is it really that important?

  16. Mark Foiles on December 5, 2022 at 4:00 am

    Total disinformation.

  17. George Kasprzak on December 5, 2022 at 4:00 am

    I find this tradeoff to be a very easy decision to make. How does 50,000 electric cars/year sound? Apparently horribly destructive because this one barely living flower has a slight chance of going extinct in a mile radius.

  18. Ash Aliengena on December 5, 2022 at 4:01 am

    These documentaries about Lithium mining/ production always seem to leave out the medical (psychiatric) applications of this amazing element. What about the millions of people who depend on a daily supply of Lithium carbonate to stabilize their moods? I’m one of those people. I have bipolar disorder. Lithium helps keep my head on straight. So… what happens to us mood disordered souls when the Lithium supply runs out? It’s not like I can run out and eat my neighbor’s electric car battery and be on my merry way…

  19. Titan 24 on December 5, 2022 at 4:03 am

    this won’t age well

  20. MYRA FLAWS on December 5, 2022 at 4:03 am

    I only concentrated on the puppy

  21. michael bren on December 5, 2022 at 4:04 am

    FAR MORE CONTAMINATING THAN OIL. Lithium mines DESTROY THE WATER TABLES for 1000s of miles around it. LITHIUM IS THE BIGGEST SCAM OF THE 21st CENTURY

  22. DIOND on December 5, 2022 at 4:04 am

    Who cares about a damn flower🤦

  23. R.R. Hughes on December 5, 2022 at 4:05 am

    They are so smart they wear a face mask outside all by themselves.

  24. Saied B on December 5, 2022 at 4:07 am

    Hymc

  25. I on December 5, 2022 at 4:08 am

    Anybody ever tried to extinguish a lithium ion battery fire?? Let me know how it goes

  26. smokey the cat on December 5, 2022 at 4:08 am

    how much child labor will I need for the most amount of profit?

  27. RVNinner on December 5, 2022 at 4:10 am

    Big error in this report.

    Lithium batteries does not produce power to charge our phones. What it does do is store electricity produced elsewhere via coal, gas, hydro, nuclear, solar, wind, etc.

  28. Shadow Marshall on December 5, 2022 at 4:13 am

    @5:35 she asks how long do they have ? He replies they have estimated 10 years to strip mine the area and were left with a giant hole in the ground with a pit of toxic lake water…. That seems to be good for the environment 👍🏼

  29. Mike Lee on December 5, 2022 at 4:14 am

    Wouldn’t the cleanest way to output less carbon be to have less humans on the planet? If everyone is so hell bent on climate change and carbon emissions, have less of what’s the root cause of the carbon emissions in the first place.

  30. dimitarz on December 5, 2022 at 4:14 am

    Lets destroy the environment….to save the environment 🫠

  31. Notyourmama on December 5, 2022 at 4:17 am

    "green energy" that requires 500,000 gallons of water to produce 1 ton of product.

  32. l l on December 5, 2022 at 4:18 am

    So much worse than fracking , oil , and CO 2 combined.

  33. telfud2 on December 5, 2022 at 4:18 am

    Had to laugh when reporter said should we do it properly here in US rather than getting it from Australia.
    If she bothered to do her research properly she would have known that Ioneer is an Australian company.

  34. Albert Marnell on December 5, 2022 at 4:20 am

    This is the answer? One of the criticisms of lithium-ion batteries has long been that they cannot be recycled, that each new battery therefore requires fossil-fuel-powered energy-intensive mining of metals such as lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt.

    Virtually everything has petroleum in it. We need many sources of everything for many things. There are too many people being born and most of them suffer, struggle because of the sexual urges of box sexes and social constructs. A social construct is a concept that exists not in objective reality, but as a result of human interaction. It exists because humans agree that it exists.

    How about a social construct where most people agree that we need less house, less cars, trucks, less of all material things, less, less and more efficient of these lesser things?

    Contraception and less humans will solve most problems within 50 years. How about getting the human population down at least 50% in 50 years by not having children or having fewer. Most people can think of other ways of making life less of a struggle. I certainly do not have all the answers.

  35. King of Rivia on December 5, 2022 at 4:21 am

    Lithium batteries are VERY EASILY recyclable. People always forget that. We dont have the capacity yet but its a very easy process that recovers 99% of lithium.

  36. Devyn Selnes on December 5, 2022 at 4:22 am

    O NO A FLOWER WHO CARES. WE CAN’T HAVE PLANTS IF THE ATMOSPHERE IS ALL CO2!!!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH

  37. hockeyplayer0241 on December 5, 2022 at 4:22 am

    Any video quoting Biden is garbage 🗑

  38. Autumn Fall on December 5, 2022 at 4:25 am

    I’ve learned of way too many white materials/etc. now and now I’m afraid I need to learn how to test something white to see what kind of substance it is. There are drugs that are white. Salt. Baking Powders. Now this Lithium. There are probably even more white grainy and powdery substances too and that is going to become way too confusing to discern easily with just looking at them all. I’m also concerned about this area and what it looks like, how desolate it is there. No structures built to provide shade. How do the workers survive in that no man’s land? I wouldn’t put up with that crap and I’d make sure they construct some survival structures around there before starting a work life in that area.

  39. MbisonBalrog on December 5, 2022 at 4:25 am

    But that plant suppose to be in lithium rich soil. What is population growth?

  40. F Frederick Skitty on December 5, 2022 at 4:26 am

    They’re not “farming” lithium, they’re extracting it. It’s a filthy, polluting business, ecologically-speaking

  41. Anonymous on December 5, 2022 at 4:27 am

    imagine wearing a mask in the middle of a dessert .-.–.-.-

  42. TaggsR85 on December 5, 2022 at 4:28 am

    Really? Who gives a crap about some weed looking plant.🙄

  43. Elie K on December 5, 2022 at 4:28 am

    And the environment never recovers.

  44. Rocket39Smoke14 on December 5, 2022 at 4:30 am

    They have to raise the price of fossil fuels in order to make mining for lithium profitable.

  45. Berdazzle Fanciclop on December 5, 2022 at 4:31 am

    America Lithium also is starting a mine in Peru where there are very few environmental protections. They are a publicly traded company too on the NYSE, with investors, relying on this mine to meet their bottom line.

    Still, with no appropriate environmental protections, 100 wells plus more are confirmed to have already been completed according to the company’s July, 2022 shareholder meeting, on a video posted on you tube – check out around minute 33:33 and see what the CEO says, pretty much, that we could be using Sodium Ion batteries instead of Lithium. Sodium Ion batteries use salt and graphite, not Lithium, I’m pretty sure no Cobalt, either. SO, why is this Lithium being pushed on everyone, just like in the past with other industries…

    What green plan??? This is not green!!!

  46. Cd Lu2.0 on December 5, 2022 at 4:33 am

    Oh and u should also go and c where u get that charge that powers the lithium. Probably 90% coal

  47. Honeys Park on December 5, 2022 at 4:34 am

    Wow, using Biden as a science expert has totally convinced me. So did wearing masks when you were alone in the nevada desert. Covid is just that dangerous, large empty deserts spread it horrendously. You’ve convinced me.

  48. hockeyplayer0241 on December 5, 2022 at 4:34 am

    So is the company going to clean all that up once they leave?

  49. MbisonBalrog on December 5, 2022 at 4:35 am

    Is there a town or any amenities in Silver peak.

  50. gonz1328 on December 5, 2022 at 4:36 am

    After i seen biden talking i just clicked off of the video

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