January 31, 2024
The supply of raw lithium ore grew rapidly beginning in 2017 as the demand for Electric Vehicle (EV) batteries began to show strong growth. By country, Australia has been the dominant force in Lithium ore production averaging 75% of global historical production between 2010 and 2022, with their market share increasing from 62% to 82% over that time period. After Australia, Chile averaged about 8% of the global market share from 2010-2022 and China at about 3%. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has identified a potential 98 million tonnes of lithium resources worldwide through geological exploration. Further, the discovered lithium reserves stand at 26 million tonnes which is sufficient for the production of nearly 2.7 billion electric vehicles.
Source: US. Geological Survey