A project approved by the government of Jair Bolsonaro will allow Brazil to export lithium abroad, unlocking a large chain of investments in lithium batteries, which should be worth more than US$ 120 billion by the end of 2030.
The approval of the project took place during the beginning of July and predicted that Sigma Lithium would have the possibility of generating more than seven thousand jobs together with the attraction of $ 15 billion in mining investments for the state of Minas Gerais (MG). For the time being, it is estimated that Brazil has received the value of R$ 2 billion in investments, but that should increase after the declarations of interests of Elon Musk in mining. Elon Musk already had to lay off more than 10% of his employees because Tesla was facing an internal crisis due to the low amount of materials for the production of electric cars and the lithium battery.
Currently, lithium metal is up more than 375%. With this in mind, the calculation of variations already exceeds both Brent oil and mineral coal and natural gas. One of the aspects, in addition to the stagnation caused by the pandemic, which caused prices to skyrocket, was in relation to the war going on between Russia and Ukraine, which caused commodity prices to become inflated and skyrocketed.
Vision Research Reports report shows that the plan should remain dependent on lithium
Lithium is a metal that allows batteries to have a charging efficiency of over 98%. And, in addition, the batteries that have it in the composition manage to reach more than seven thousand charging cycles, that is, they have a much longer duration than the competing materials. With that in mind, a report shared by Vision Research Reports shows that the battery market must increase by more than 15% by the year 2030 and which will be worth at least $120 billion.
Nowadays, there are sustainable alternatives studied by scientists to try to reduce dependence on the metal. However, they are not as efficient and, on a large scale, can be more expensive than ideal for the industry. For example, the possibility of creating sand batteries, according to the Finns. With it, it would be possible to store energy for a much longer period of time.
Another interesting study that has been carried out shows the possibility of creating Batteries made of wood. In short, the process would be carried out from the removal of an organic chemical compound that is present in the bark of trees so that there is affirmation of a battery that would be able to store energy for a certain time.
Currently, the lithium battery market suffers from a shortage of mining professionals and this causes low productivity and, therefore, prices increase due to the high demand from industries, especially in relation to the electric car sector. It is estimated that, in the pandemic year, productivity was 11% below what was needed.
The Covid-19 crisis in China reduced production in the mining sector, as numerous cities that were references for at least 20% of GDP, Gross Domestic Product, presented social isolation this year as a way to control the virus.
