Lithium is one of the strangest metals on Earth. It is the lightest metal known, soft enough to be cut with a knife, and highly reactive.
On its own, it doesn't look particularly impressive. Yet this unassuming element has become one of the most important raw materials of the modern technological world.
It is inside the batteries powering smartphones, laptops, electric vehicles, power tools and increasingly, large-scale energy-storage systems.
Lithium is also used in glass, ceramics, lubricating greases, aluminium alloys, pharmaceuticals and several industrial processes.
But there is an obvious question hiding behind all those batteries: Where does all the lithium actually come from?
And perhaps more importantly: What does it cost the planet to get it?
What exactly is lithium?
Lithium is chemical element number 3 on the periodic table. Its symbol is Li.
It was first identified in 1817 by Swedish chemist Johan August Arfwedson, although commercially useful quantities would not be produced until much later.
Lithium is unusual because it is both extremely light and chemically reactive.
These properties make lithium particularly useful in batteries. Lithium ions can move between the electrodes of a rechargeable battery, allowing electrical energy to be stored and released.
That combination of low weight and useful electrochemical properties is one reason lithium-ion batteries became so important.
The batteries don't simply contain lumps of metallic lithium, however. Modern lithium-ion batteries generally use lithium compounds incorporated into their electrode materials.
So how do we get those compounds in the first place?
Where does lithium come from?
Lithium isn't normally dug out of the ground as pure metal. Instead, it is found in rocks, mineral deposits and underground brines.
Two major sources dominate today's production:
1. Hard-rock deposits
Some rocks contain lithium-bearing minerals, particularly spodumene.
Large quantities of these rocks can be mined, crushed and processed to separate the lithium-bearing material. Australia has been a major producer from hard-rock deposits.
The basic process looks something like this:
Mining → crushing → grinding → concentrating → chemical processing → lithium compound
The concentrated mineral must then be chemically treated to release the lithium. This can involve high-temperature processing followed by chemical extraction and purification.
The result can eventually be a material such as lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide, both important ingredients in modern battery manufacturing.
2. Lithium from underground brines
The other major approach is very different. In parts of South America, particularly the so-called Lithium Triangle covering areas of Chile, Argentina and Bolivia, lithium occurs dissolved in extremely salty underground water.
These aren't ordinary freshwater aquifers. They are ancient, mineral-rich brines that have accumulated beneath salt flats known as salars.
Companies pump the lithium-bearing brine to the surface. Traditionally, the brine is then moved through enormous evaporation ponds. Sunlight does much of the work.
Water evaporates and the concentration of dissolved salts changes. Operators progressively remove unwanted compounds until they can recover lithium-containing material.
Eventually the lithium can be processed into lithium carbonate or another usable compound.
The process can take many months, depending on the chemistry of the brine and local conditions.
And this is where the environmental debate becomes complicated.
The water problem
Perhaps the biggest criticism of lithium extraction concerns water. This is particularly significant because many lithium deposits are located in extremely dry regions.
The International Energy Agency has noted that more than half of current lithium and copper production is concentrated in areas experiencing high water stress. Northern Chile is one example.
At first glance, the problem seems simple: Mining lithium requires water in places that don't have much of it.
But the reality is more complicated.
The water pumped from a salar is usually highly saline brine, rather than drinking water.
When that brine is placed in evaporation ponds, much of its water eventually evaporates into the atmosphere.
Consequently, figures describing the "water consumption" of lithium production can vary considerably depending on exactly what is counted.
A 2026 study reviewing published estimates found that direct water consumption for lithium production from brine evaporation can reach hundreds of cubic metres per tonne of lithium carbonate equivalent, although estimates vary substantially according to the deposit, climate and methodology.
It would be misleading to suggest that every litre of brine pumped from a lithium operation is equivalent to taking the same amount of freshwater from a river.
But that doesn't mean the process has no hydrological consequences.
Salt flats are complicated systems in which underground brines, freshwater, wetlands and surface water can interact.
Scientists are still investigating exactly how extraction changes those systems.
It's not just about water
Lithium mining can affect the environment in several other ways.
Land disturbance
Hard-rock lithium mining can involve open-pit mines, roads, processing plants, waste dumps and tailings facilities. That means removing vegetation and disturbing soil and rock.
A 2025 review of lithium production identified land disturbance, habitat destruction, erosion and potential contamination from processing wastes among the environmental concerns associated with hard-rock extraction.
Brine extraction has a different physical footprint.
Instead of a conventional open-pit mine, an operation can involve wells, pipelines, enormous evaporation ponds and processing infrastructure across a salt-flat environment.
These landscapes may look barren to humans. They aren't necessarily barren ecologically.
Some contain wetlands and highly specialised organisms adapted to extreme conditions.
Recent research examining global mining impacts has identified biodiversity risks associated with lithium extraction in Chile's salt-flat and wetland environments.
What about pollution?
Mining and processing can generate waste materials and require chemicals. Hard-rock processing can involve crushing, grinding, flotation, roasting and chemical leaching.
The chemical processes used to extract lithium therefore have to be carefully controlled. Poorly managed waste or wastewater can potentially introduce contaminants into surrounding soil and water.
This isn't unique to lithium. Almost every form of mineral extraction has an environmental footprint.
The important question is how large that footprint is, how it is managed and what happens over the lifetime of the mine.
Lithium isn't automatically "green"
This is perhaps the most important part of the story. Lithium is closely associated with the transition away from fossil fuels.
Electric cars don't burn petrol or diesel. Batteries can also allow electricity generated by wind, solar, hydroelectric and other sources to be stored and used later.
That makes lithium-ion batteries an important part of attempts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from transport and electricity systems.
But that doesn't make lithium mining environmentally harmless.
There is a difference between: a technology that can reduce emissions and a technology whose entire supply chain has zero environmental impact.
The two things aren't the same.
An electric vehicle still requires mining. So does a solar panel, a wind turbine, and a smartphone.
The energy transition doesn't eliminate mining. In many cases, it changes which materials we need to mine and in what quantities.
What else is lithium used for?
Batteries now dominate lithium demand. According to the US Geological Survey's 2025 figures, batteries accounted for an estimated 87% of global lithium end use.
But lithium has plenty of other jobs.
Glass
Lithium compounds can lower the melting temperature of glass and reduce thermal expansion. This makes lithium-containing glass useful in applications where resistance to sudden temperature changes is important.
Glass-ceramic cooking surfaces are one example.
Ceramics
Lithium compounds are used in ceramic glazes, porcelain and other products. They can help reduce melting temperatures and thermal expansion.
Lubricating grease
Lithium-based greases are widely used because they perform well across a broad range of temperatures and resist water relatively well.
They can be found in machinery, vehicles and industrial equipment.
Aluminium alloys
Lithium can be added to aluminium alloys to reduce their density. That makes lithium-containing alloys interesting for applications where saving weight matters, including aerospace.
Medicine
Lithium compounds have another, very different application. Certain lithium medicines are used in the treatment of bipolar disorder and related conditions.
The quantities involved in medicine are tiny compared with the enormous volumes associated with battery production.
Could we run out of lithium?
This is where another common misconception appears. The Earth isn't simply going to wake up one morning and discover that there is no lithium left.
Lithium resources are distributed across numerous types of geological deposits.
Researchers are also investigating lithium in:
- clay deposits
- geothermal brines
- oilfield brines
- previously mined materials
- industrial waste streams
- used batteries
USGS notes that lithium occurs in a surprisingly wide range of geological settings.
The challenge isn't simply whether lithium exists. It's whether it can be extracted economically, responsibly and at the scale required. A deposit might contain enormous quantities of lithium but still be difficult, expensive or environmentally problematic to exploit.
What about recycling?
This could become increasingly important. A lithium-ion battery isn't necessarily the end of the lithium's journey.
Used batteries contain valuable materials that can potentially be recovered and used again.
Recycling doesn't eliminate the need for new mining, because demand continues to grow and the existing stock of discarded batteries takes time to build up.
But once millions of tonnes of batteries eventually reach the end of their useful lives, recycling could become a much larger secondary source of lithium and other battery materials.
Research into lithium recovery from spent batteries is already expanding rapidly.
In other words, today's battery could potentially become tomorrow's raw material.
Is there a better way to extract lithium?
Possibly. One of the most closely watched developments is Direct Lithium Extraction, or DLE.
Instead of leaving enormous quantities of brine in evaporation ponds for months, DLE technologies attempt to selectively remove lithium from the brine using methods such as adsorption, ion exchange, membranes or other chemical processes.
The attraction is obvious: extract the lithium more quickly and potentially use less land.
But DLE isn't a magic solution. Different technologies have different requirements for freshwater, chemicals and energy.
A 2023 review in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment found that some DLE approaches show promising lithium recovery, but also stressed that environmental performance needs to be assessed across the entire process rather than assuming that avoiding evaporation automatically makes a technology environmentally benign.
Some technologies are still being tested or developed at scale.
The bigger question
Lithium presents us with an uncomfortable contradiction. We need enormous quantities of minerals to build many of the technologies intended to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.
But extracting those minerals can itself consume water, energy and land.
That doesn't mean lithium batteries are inherently bad. Nor does it mean every lithium mine has the same environmental impact.
A lithium operation in a wet region, a hard-rock mine in Australia and a brine operation in an arid South American salt flat are not environmentally identical.
Even within the same region, geology, extraction technology, water management and local ecosystems can make a major difference.
Researchers studying the Atacama region, for example, have found that prolonged drought and other water uses can be important drivers of ecological change, meaning that attributing every observed environmental change directly to lithium extraction can oversimplify a complicated hydrological system.
Lithium's strange future
Lithium has gone from being a relatively obscure chemical element to becoming a strategic material for the global economy.
It sits inside the technology we carry in our pockets, its inside electric vehicles, it can store electricity generated by renewable energy. And demand for it has transformed parts of the mining industry.
But the lithium story isn't simply: "Lithium is green." Nor is it: "Lithium mining is destroying the planet." Reality is considerably more complicated.
Lithium allows us to build technologies that can reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Getting that lithium out of the Earth can nevertheless create genuine environmental pressures — particularly around water, land disturbance, energy consumption, waste and sensitive ecosystems.
The real challenge may therefore be less about finding more lithium and more about finding ways to obtain it with less damage.
That could mean better mining practices. It could mean new extraction technologies. It could mean extracting lithium from sources that are currently regarded as waste.
And eventually, it could mean a world in which a significant proportion of the lithium in a new battery has already been through a battery before.
The future of lithium may ultimately depend not just on how much we can extract from the Earth...but on how efficiently we can stop extracting it in the first place.
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