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.

WATCH NIGHTLINE EPISODES:
https://abc.go.com/shows/nightline

ALSO AVAILABLE ON HULU: https://hulu.tv/2wSmSrZ

#Nightline #EarthDay #WhiteGoldRush #Lithium #Climate

50 Comments

  1. MbisonBalrog on December 17, 2022 at 10:14 am

    Is there a town or any amenities in Silver peak.

  2. Nitty-Gritty Truth on December 17, 2022 at 10:17 am

    Climate change is a scam

  3. Bad Cholesterol on December 17, 2022 at 10:18 am

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

  4. bucketheadrox on December 17, 2022 at 10:21 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?

  5. telfud2 on December 17, 2022 at 10:24 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.

  6. Honeys Park on December 17, 2022 at 10:25 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.

  7. TaggsR85 on December 17, 2022 at 10:27 am

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

  8. I on December 17, 2022 at 10:29 am

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

  9. l l on December 17, 2022 at 10:29 am

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

  10. HelloWorld on December 17, 2022 at 10:31 am

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

  11. F Frederick Skitty on December 17, 2022 at 10:31 am

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

  12. hockeyplayer0241 on December 17, 2022 at 10:32 am

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

  13. michael bren on December 17, 2022 at 10:32 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

  14. Ash Aliengena on December 17, 2022 at 10:33 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…

  15. gonz1328 on December 17, 2022 at 10:35 am

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

  16. MYRA FLAWS on December 17, 2022 at 10:35 am

    I only concentrated on the puppy

  17. Berdazzle Fanciclop on December 17, 2022 at 10:37 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!!!

  18. Crazy ivan on December 17, 2022 at 10:38 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.

  19. Albert Marnell on December 17, 2022 at 10:39 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.

  20. MbisonBalrog on December 17, 2022 at 10:40 am

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

  21. Notyourmama on December 17, 2022 at 10:41 am

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

  22. Mark Foiles on December 17, 2022 at 10:42 am

    Total disinformation.

  23. dimitarz on December 17, 2022 at 10:43 am

    Lets destroy the environment….to save the environment 🫠

  24. King of Rivia on December 17, 2022 at 10:43 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.

  25. RVNinner on December 17, 2022 at 10:43 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.

  26. hockeyplayer0241 on December 17, 2022 at 10:45 am

    Any video quoting Biden is garbage đź—‘

  27. Anonymous on December 17, 2022 at 10:47 am

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

  28. Nick Zussino on December 17, 2022 at 10:47 am

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

  29. Titan 24 on December 17, 2022 at 10:48 am

    this won’t age well

  30. Cd Lu2.0 on December 17, 2022 at 10:48 am

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

  31. Mike Lee on December 17, 2022 at 10:49 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.

  32. smokey the cat on December 17, 2022 at 10:50 am

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

  33. Rocket39Smoke14 on December 17, 2022 at 10:50 am

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

  34. BOOKIE BLUNT on December 17, 2022 at 10:51 am

    Man the 80’s kinda had the first white gold

  35. Daryl B. Pain on December 17, 2022 at 10:51 am

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

  36. Tom Acquilano on December 17, 2022 at 10:52 am

    This video was going well until Biden entered the picture.

  37. DIOND on December 17, 2022 at 10:53 am

    Who cares about a damn flower🤦

  38. George Kasprzak on December 17, 2022 at 10:54 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.

  39. b7ray32 on December 17, 2022 at 10:54 am

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

  40. Gregory Braun on December 17, 2022 at 10:57 am

    Yeah go kill flowers in china instead

  41. Erik Hadinger on December 17, 2022 at 11:01 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?

  42. Autumn Fall on December 17, 2022 at 11:01 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.

  43. Elie K on December 17, 2022 at 11:02 am

    And the environment never recovers.

  44. mrbonzzai on December 17, 2022 at 11:02 am

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

  45. mcarr 09 on December 17, 2022 at 11:03 am

    California and Nevada could really use that water

  46. / Almigghtydre on December 17, 2022 at 11:04 am

    Mother Nature creating lithium dumps? That’s logical

  47. Saied B on December 17, 2022 at 11:04 am

    Hymc

  48. R.R. Hughes on December 17, 2022 at 11:05 am

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

  49. Jonathan Lindsey on December 17, 2022 at 11:07 am

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

  50. Devyn Selnes on December 17, 2022 at 11:08 am

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

Leave a Comment