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SoCal Section meeting: Lithium Resources beneath the Salton Sea - A cure for our supply chain blues?

  • 1.  SoCal Section meeting: Lithium Resources beneath the Salton Sea - A cure for our supply chain blues?

    Posted 04-27-2022 02:20 PM

    You're invited: DINNER MEETING – Thursday, May 12, 2022

    "Lithium Resources beneath the Salton Sea –
    A cure for our supply chain blues?

    PRESENTED BY: Michael A. McKibben, Ph.D, Research Professor, Dept. of Earth & Planetary Sciences, UC Riverside

    TIME: 6:00 pm Social - 7:00 pm Dinner and Presentation

    LOCATION: Dave & Buster's Conference Room 4821 Mills Circle Ontario, CA 91764

    HOSTED BY: SoCal Section of SME

    COST: RSVP - Professional $40, Student $10
    At door - Professional $45, Student $20


    RSVP here by Thursday, May 5, 2022


    Mingle with fellow geologists, engineers, and miners! Enter for the chance to win some fun prizes and listen to a fabulous speaker from U.C. Riverside.

    Register for the event by May 5, 2022 using the link provided below:
    https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sme-dinner-meeting-lithium-resources-beneath-the-salton-sea-tickets-317894760787

    ABSTRACT: Increased demand for electrical storage batteries and recent legislation mandating green transportation and power grids has led to a global "white gold" rush for new deposits of lithium resources. Geothermal brines produced from a mile or two beneath the Salton Sea contain elevated concentrations of dissolved lithium and could supply all foreseeable US demand for this metal if the direct extraction technology can be proven and shown to be cost-competitive with traditional lithium sources. Utilization of these brines as a lithium resource during geothermal power production could also avoid many of the serious environmental ad US supply-chain problems associated with traditional lithium mining in South America, Australia and China. Establishment of a new southern California lithium extraction and battery manufacturing economy, centered in Imperial County, could create prosperity in a region that is among the poorest in the nation. The opportunities and challenges associated with direct lithium extraction from these unique geothermal brines will be reviewed and discussed.

    BIOGRAPHY: Dr. McKibben is a geochemist and economic geologist at U.C. Riverside who studies natural processes responsible for metal and sulfur transport in modern and ancient hydrothermal and volcanic systems. For the past several decades he has published extensively on geologic and geochemical aspects of the Salton Sea geothermal area. He currently co-leads a DOE-sponsored joint LBNL-UCR project assessing the origin, extent and sustainability of geothermal lithium resources beneath the Salton Sea. He received his BSc and MSc degrees from UC Riverside in 1976 and 1979 and his PhD from Pennsylvania State University in 1984. He received the Waldemar Lindgren award for excellence in research from the Society of Economic Geologists in 1989. From 2009–2018 he was Divisional Dean of Student Academic Affairs for the science college at UC Riverside, overseeing 6,000 students in 13 majors, and then served as Chair of his Department from 2019-2021 during the height of the Covid pandemic. He retired as a UC faculty member in 2021 but was recalled as a Research Professor in 2022 to work on the Salton Sea lithium project.

    If you would like to sponsor this or a future event, please contact SMESoCal1850@gmail.com


    Location

    Dave & Buster's Conference Room
    4821 Mills Circle
    Ontario, CA 91764

     



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    Rachel Grimes
    SME Sections Coordinator
    Englewood CO United States
    (303) 948-4247
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