Afghanistan’s Lithium Eureka

Since reports emerged this weekend that Afghanistan is home to a massive deposit of useful minerals, namely lithium, the green news complex has been buzzing about which superpowers will try to dominate it and how it might be used. After all, lithium has been approaching a potentially costly shortage just as a bevy of electric cars depending on lithium-ion batteries take to the roads.

According to the New York Times, the minerals — worth upwards of $1 trillion — were discovered by a roving band of Pentagon officials and geologists. The group then had to inform Afghanistan’s president, Hamid Karzai, about the lucky strike — which also includes iron, copper, cobalt and gold — and which could turn the country into one of the most important industrial mining hubs in the world. The unnamed player here: China, owner of 97 percent of the rare earth element refining operations in the world.

[Source & read more: GreenBeat]