Pennsylvania is sitting on major untapped lithium 'white gold mine' that could generate new billion-dollar industry, government study finds

Pennsylvania could be at the center of America's new 'white gold rush' with the discovery of a major untapped source of lithium in the state.

Government scientists have shown that they can filter the precious metal from the state's shale gas wastewater: pulling tons of lithium per day, with little left behind.

They concluded that Pennsylvania alone could produce nearly half of the total US demand for lithium — starting in the first year — supplying this key compound that's needed to power everything from smartphones to electric vehicles to solar panels.

A project on this scale could make Pennsylvania a rust-belt Saudi Arabia, ending US dependence on lithium from China, which now controls 90 percent of the market.

And unlike many new lithium-mining proposals, which have threatened scarce water resources from Arkansas to Colorado, this process would make a virtue of the high-pressure water already used by the hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, of natural gas.

With 72 proposed lithium mines across the US, the discovery could help reduce local ecological fallout as America shifts away from 'greenhouse gas'-emitting fossil fuels. 

Over 1,200 tons of lithium could be recovered per year from Pennsylvania's natural gas 'fracking' wastewater alone, according to the new research, produced in collaboration by the US National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and the University of Pittsburgh

'Wastewater from oil and gas is a burgeoning issue,' as one government geochemist behind the new study put it. 'We're looking at a beneficial use of that waste.'

Fracking is a process used to extract natural gas from deep underground shale rock, via the injection of more than a million gallons of water, sand and chemicals at high pressure into drilled wells.

The pressurized mix cracks open the shale rock, creating new fissures that are held open by the sand, allowing natural gas from the rock to flow up into the well.

However, despite having reduced US dependence on foreign oil, fracking has proven to be highly controversial due to its use of chemicals, groundwater contamination, noise, air pollution and even its ability to create earthquake-like tremors.

And these risks have become a fiercely debated issue in Pennsylvania, where fracking has been linked to cancer other health issues.

Over 1,200 tons of lithium could be recovered per year from Pennsylvania's fracking wastewater alone, according to the new research, produced in collaboration by the US National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and the University of Pittsburgh.

Although the price of lithium has fluctuated in this volatile new market, the annual return to the state from this wastewater lithium could range from $1.6 to $18 million dollars at current prices

Fracking is the process of drilling down into the earth before inserting a high-pressure water mixture to release natural gas. Water, sand and chemicals are injected at high pressure into underground boreholes to open up cracks in the rock, freeing trapped natural gas

Although the price of lithium has fluctuated in this volatile new market, the annual return to the state could range from $1.6 to $18 million dollars at current prices.

More promising still, their projection that this wastewater recycling could meet nearly half of US lithium demand does not factor in any nearby activity other states.

The so-called Marcellus shale region, where an estimated 144 trillion cubic-feet of natural gas lays pocketed between two massive layers of limestone, covers much of Pennsylvania — but also extends into New York, Ohio, and West Virginia. 

'Pennsylvania has the most robust data source for Marcellus shale,' NETL geochemist Justin Mackey said in a statement. 'But there's lots of activity in West Virginia, too.'

Mackey and his colleagues were able to calculate the likely amount of lithium floating in solution in this fracking wastewater through contaminant reports that each oil and gas company in Pennsylvania is required to file with regulators.

'Lithium is one of the substances they have to report,' Mackie said. 'That's how we were able to conduct this regional analysis.'

Based on their estimates, published this April in the journal Scientific Reports, fracking wells in the southwestern portion of Pennsylvania appear to contain nearly twice as much lithium as wells elsewhere in the 'Keystone state.' 

Geochemist Justin Mackey and his colleagues were able to calculate the likely amount of lithium floating in solution in this fracking wastewater through contaminant reports that each oil and gas company in Pennsylvania is required to file with regulators

While geologists had long known that lithium was present in the mineral content around these shale gas deposits, an accurate estimation only became feasible as years of these mandated reports came in.  

'There hadn't been enough measurements to quantify the resource,' Mackey explained. 'We just didn't know how much was in there.'

But an accidental benefit had occurred, because lithium-based mineral compounds like lithium chloride and lithium carbonate are water soluble. 

The simple act of injecting fracking wells with high-pressured water has acted to pull much of that lithium metal out of the rock and into the fracking wastewater.

Water in underground aquifers, as Mackey put it, have been 'dissolving rocks for hundreds of millions of years.'

'Essentially, the water has been mining the subsurface,' he said.

America has about eight million metric tons of lithium in its land, which means the US industry is worth about $232 billion.

However, the nation only makes up about one percent of the global lithium production — while China has dominated the market for decades because 90 percent of the metal mined is refined in their nation.

But reckless exploitation of America's lithium wealth could come at a grave cost, experts warn.

Approximately 40 of the 72 proposed lithium mines in the US are set for Nevada, America's driest state, and 80 percent of them would sit on water supplies deemed at risk of low water levels, according to an analysis by the Howard Center for investigative journalism. 

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Central Nevada Regional Water Authority Executive Director Jeff Fontaine told Howard Center researchers that overuse of water in the basin can cause 'permanent' damage underground and 'a combination of things that happens that would prevent that aquifer from ever really restoring itself.' 

Poor planning of such mines, the Howard Center noted, could hurt local communities and wildlife that need access to these aquifers' fresh water.

Patrick Donnelly, a conservation biologist for the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, told the Howard Center that if all of the 72 proposed mines are constructed under the current rules, 'it would be a fundamental transformation of the American West.'

'People compare it to the Gold Rush, but the Gold Rush was pretty small scale, compared to what all this lithium's looking like,' Donnelly said.