Thursday, March 28

Ukraine lithium, one of the likely drivers of the Ukraine-Russia war


Four days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, two researchers from the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine spoke the following words during a conference in Brighton, England: “Ukraine has a powerful base of mineral resources and has a great opportunity to become on one of the world’s leading lithium producers.

As reported by the magazine Scientific Collection Inferconfthe scientists Svitlana Vasylenko and Uliana Naumenko came to assure that Ukraine could have reserves of some 500,000 tons of lithium to exploit, a precious material that is used from technology to medicines. Shortly after, Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of its neighboring country.

Therefore, there is the hypothesis that it was precisely this raw material the one that precipitated Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine. But what exactly is lithium and what is it for?

key in battery manufacturing

lithium is the lightest metal known, and is found in natural brines, oil wells, seawater, and geothermal fields. It is a great conductor of heat and electricity. Therefore, it is essential for the manufacture of batteries.

This means that lithium is found in technological devices such as mobile phones, tablets and computers. A cell phone has just under a gram of lithium, a laptop has about three grams, and a electric vehicle you need between three and four kilos of this matter.

Likewise, it also plays a fundamental role in the renewable energynow on the rise, since lithium batteries have the ability to store electrical energy generated from solar panels or wind turbines.

In addition, lithium is also known for its use in the field of medicine. Today, it is used to treat and prevent manic episodes in people with Bipolar disorder.

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Dependency of Spain

The Illustrious Official College of Geologists (ICOG) has recognized the energy dependency that Spain has, which has become “more evident” as a result of the pandemic and the current war in Ukraine. For this reason, he calls for the country to exploit its own natural resources, not only lithium, but also hydrocarbons, rare earths, tungsten or uranium and hydraulic fracturing, which has “great potential” in Spain.

The ICOG ensures that Spain have a “great mining potential that could represent development, employment and the improvement of the national standard of living”. In this sense, it points to the communities of Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, Galicia and Castilla y León as some of the sites with mining potential to reduce dependence on third countries in the supply of these basic raw materials for industry.

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However, according to ICOG, Spain currently lacks a national mining policy that falls under the European Union’s Raw Materials Initiative.

The College says it has warning for more than a decade public powers and different administrations of the consequences of not advancing in the use of their own resources in the face of “great energy dependence”.


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