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Buffett shot-lithium mine

Release time:

2024-06-11

Recently, there is another big news in the new energy industry: Buffett is investing more in lithium, the key material in the upstream of the new energy automobile industry chain.

Buffett has a new move!

Recently, there is another big news in the new energy industry: Buffett is investing more in lithium, the key material in the upstream of the new energy automobile industry chain.

Eastern time on Tuesday, Buffett's heavy holdings of Western Petroleum and Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Energy Company (BHE) announced a joint venture to test and deploy technology to extract lithium from geothermal brine.
Occidental Petroleum will cooperate with BHE to test and deploy geothermal lithium extraction

Currently, BHE Renewables(BHE Renewable Energy Corporation) operates 10 thermal power plants producing 345 megawatts of clean energy in California's Imperial Valley, 250 kilometers east of San Diego. The facilities process 50000 gallons of "lithium-rich brine" per minute, according to the company ".

At the same time, TerraLithium, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum, has a patent for direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology, which can convert lithium-rich brine into high-purity lithium.

TerraLithium are currently conducting tests at BHE Renewable Energy's geothermal facility in the Imperial Valley to determine whether the technology can produce lithium in an "environmentally friendly way.

If the test is successful, Buffett's BHE Renewable Energy Company plans to build a commercial lithium production facility in California's Empire Valley. In addition, they plan to expand beyond the Imperial Valley under a joint venture between Occidental Petroleum and BHE Renewable Energy.

The two giants join forces

Alicia Knapp, CEO of BHE Renewable Energy, said at a press conference on Tuesday: "We are excited to work with Occidental Petroleum to seize this incredible opportunity to make Imperial Valley a global leader in lithium production."
"By leveraging Occidental's expertise in managing and handling brine in the oil and gas chemical business, coupled with BHE Renewable's deep knowledge in the geothermal business, we are in a unique position to advance more sustainable lithium production," said Richard Jackson, president of Occidental American Onshore Resources and Carbon Management, in a press release."

In 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy wrote in a report that extracting lithium from geothermal brines may be a way to "bring domestic lithium to market while generating electricity, with minimal environmental impact.

The U.S. Department of Energy pointed out that the large lithium resources identified are mainly located in the Salton Sea in the Imperial Valley region of southern California.

But while lithium carbonate in stock prices are up about 6% this year. However, lithium prices remain well below the all-time highs of more than $80000 a tonne since 2022. At the beginning of June this year, the in stock price of lithium carbonate was about US $14200 per ton. END

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