Ah, metals 'n' stuff
"According to The Financial Tribune, an English language news publication focused on Iran that's operated by Tehran-based Donya-e-Eqtesad,"
I used to write for Donya. Fun gig - tho' my co-author has recently fled the country to avoid being hanged. Free market economics became not stylish. Despite my having written for them they're an accurate source.
"Maybe someone is confusing mass of ore with mass of refined Lithium? Dunno, but you're right, the numbers don't match."
No, this is OK. 1.6 million in 2025, up from 130k tonnes last year (numbers in the USGS 2023 report refer to 2022). Could be an over-estimate of course, but lithium is seeing soaring demand.
"Berkshire Hathaway Energy Renewables project, based in Imperial County, California. The project aims to extract lithium from geothermal brine"
Yep, it'll almost certainly work too. The membrane tech to make it so is good to go. Which also means that the Rhenish geothermal stations become a source, Cornish Lithium (and, umm Wearside?) also become available. The guys claiming to be able to extract direct from the Red Sea might be a bit hopeful. It's definitely extractable, but at what cost?
" There's another use of Lithium. A naturally occurring isotope of the element – 6Li – is a key ingredient in the fusion fuel of practical thermonuclear weapons. We mention that because Iran is so very keen on developing its own nuclear weapons."
And a rather fun bit there. Chile has those vast salt flats that are just stuffed with lithium. But there are only two licences to extract. The problem being that the nuclear ministry has to authorise any new licences. Which it never has. The reason being that when Pinochet rewrote the mining laws someone thought about Li-6 and inserted that requirement into the law. The effect of which has been that Pinochet's son in law (at, I think, SQM) has never had to face the disturbing possibility of competition in Chile. Because his licence was grandfathered in.....