The state of Nevada in the United States possesses all the ideal conditions in terms of topography, climate, and geological activity to become a major lithium production hub in the world.
In the Clayton Valley, a vast basin located in Esmeralda County, Nevada, turquoise lakes are interspersed among brown mountains. The basin and mountain range stretch from the west to the east of the state. However, the still lakes in Clayton are artificial and rich in lithium.
Silver Peak, a small town that once focused on silver mining in this remote valley, became Nevada’s first lithium production facility in 1966, decades before lithium became a key metal for renewable energy and national security. The facility, operated by Albemarle Corporation, produces 5,000 tons of lithium carbonate annually, according to Live Science.
Lithium-rich brine evaporates at the Silver Peak mine in Clayton Valley, Nevada. (Photo: Scott Thibodeaux)
Historically, lithium had little economic significance, but the skyrocketing demand for lithium-ion batteries has shifted the focus towards these ore deposits. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, lithium-ion batteries, primarily for electric vehicles, account for 87% of global lithium demand. Analysts predict that this market share will rise to 95% by 2030. The U.S. produces only 0.5% of the world’s lithium, but Nevada could change that figure. “Nevada has more lithium than any other state,” said Christopher Henry, a senior geologist at the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology (NBMG).
According to James Faulds, a geologist at NBMG, the reason lies in the tectonic conditions. The lithium deposits in Nevada are the result of unexpected geological luck. Almost everything relates to the stretching of the crust: steep terrain, abundant volcanic rock, high heat flow, arid climate, and hydrologically closed basins.
The tectonic history of the Great Basin of North America, which includes most of the western United States and the entire state of Nevada, is very complex. About 17 million years ago, the Earth’s crust thickened due to ancient tectonic collisions before beginning to stretch and thin out, expanding like taffy. The tilting crustal blocks resembled a game of dominoes, forming basins where sediments and water accumulated in shallow lakes. Magma rose through the thin crust, erupting volcanic rock onto the surface and mixing with gravel, sand, and clay. Most of the basins in present-day Nevada are arid, leaving behind cracked mud flats and salt. The stretching of the crust continues today and is key to the state’s vast lithium reserves.
According to Simon Jowitt, an economic geologist at the University of Nevada, Reno, the formation of lithium begins with magma. Most of the lithium mined globally is extracted directly from this hard rock, including the world’s largest lithium mine in pegmatite in Greenbushes, Australia. However, the lithium source in Nevada is rhyolite (an extrusive form of granite), which contains very small amounts of lithium, insufficient for economic extraction directly. Instead, geologists are interested in the volcanic sedimentary deposits, where easily soluble metals concentrate in nearby basins after the rock has weathered.
Streams often carry rainwater flowing over the ground to the sea, but the arid climate and topography of Nevada result in most basins being hydrologically closed. Streams bring water into the basins, forming small lakes. Rainwater extracts lithium from the rhyolite deep underground or from steep mountain slopes. This lithium-rich rainwater accumulates in the basins and slowly concentrates into brine.
In the Clayton Valley, lithium-rich brine is pumped to the surface to evaporate or processed through direct lithium extraction techniques. Besides brine, what excites geologists is the potential of lithium clay in Nevada.
The McDermitt Caldera straddles the states of Nevada and Oregon, forming a volcanic chain as the North American plate moves over a fixed heat source. When McDermitt erupted 16.3 million years ago, an internal lake within the caldera was filled with ash and smectite clay. As the lake evaporated, hydrothermal fluids transformed lithium-rich smectite into illite clay, particularly at the Thacker Pass in the southern part of the caldera. Today, McDermitt is one of the largest lithium deposits in the world. The startup Lithium Americas Corp estimates that the Thacker Pass project contains 217.3 million tons of lithium. The company plans to begin production in 2028.
431 kilometers south, the tilted strata of Rhyolite Ridge run along the Silver Peak range, another lithium clay deposit in Nevada. Rhyolite Ridge was once above a caldera similar to McDermitt. Initially, geologists believed that the rhyolitic lithium-rich deposit accumulated in the tectonically active basin of Rhyolite Ridge. As the basin developed, a lake formed, depositing clay-rich sediment above the volcanic rock. Hydrothermal fluids seeped through the cracks, causing the sediments at the lake bottom to absorb lithium from the underlying rhyolite. Subsequent faulting raised these deposits, exposing the valuable clay layer. Ioneer USA Corporation plans to mine lithium-boron from Rhyolite Ridge and build a chemical processing plant, with production expected to begin in 2028. As production begins at McDermitt and Rhyolite Ridge, Nevada’s lithium output will increase.
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