Secondary battery core mineral Lithium confirmed first buried in Korea

The rocks containing lithium found in Uljin in North Gyeongsang Province (pictured left) and Danyang in North Chungcheong Province after a four-year nighttime geological survey by the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources. Courtesy of the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources

For the first time, it has been confirmed that lithium, a key mineral used in secondary batteries, is buried underground in Korea. The locations are Uljin in North Gyeongsang Province and Danyang in North Chungcheong Province.

Korea has one of the world's largest secondary battery production capacities, but imports all of its lithium from overseas. This is why it is significant that lithium deposits with developmental potential exist in Korea.

However, it will take time to drill boreholes to confirm the reserves due to the presence of a colony of Kumgangsong, a protected pine tree, on top of the lithium deposit.

The Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources held a briefing for the media on the11th and announced that lithium has been confirmed in Uljin and Danyang after conducting outdoor geological surveys over the past four years in 12 areas in Korea that were classified as candidate sites for lithium deposits through geochemical surveys in the early 2000s.

The lithium identified in Uljin and Danyang was found embedded in a large boulder with a length of hundreds of meters exposed on the ground. This concentration of lithium in boulders is called a "rock type ore deposit."

There are also 'salt-flat brine’ deposits. Lithium is dissolved in a salty lake. Australia, the world's No. 1 lithium producer, extracts lithium from rock-type deposits, while Chile, the world's No. 2 producer, extracts lithium from salt-flat brine deposits. All twelve places of South Korea's exploration sites were rock-type ore deposits.

Noteworthy are the lithium 'dignities' found in Uljin and Danyang, respectively. The dignity is the weight percentage of a particular mineral in a rock. A lithium value of 1% means that a 10-kilogram stone contains 0.1 kilograms of lithium.

According to an analysis by the Institute for Geoscience and Mineral Resources, the lithium content of the Uljin deposit ranged from 0.3 to 1.5 percent. The Danyang deposit ranged from 0.01 to 0.5 percent. In China, a major lithium producer, the minimum grade for lithium development is 0.2%. Unlike the Uljin deposit, the Danyang deposit falls short of the threshold for development.

However, the Institute said that the discovery of the deposit in Korea is significant as lithium is a key mineral for secondary batteries. Even if it is not economically viable at the moment, it is better than nothing in terms of resource security.

According to market research firm SNE Research, Korean companies accounted for 25 percent of the global market (in terms of shipments) for electric vehicle batteries in the first quarter of this year. However, all lithium is imported from overseas. There is an opportunity to improve this situation.

However, domestic lithium production is not expected to happen anytime soon. It will take time to confirm reserves, another criterion for economic viability. This is because the only way to confirm reserves is to drill holes in the ground.

Drilling a single borehole costs about 60 million won, which is not a high cost for resource exploration. There are other reasons besides money that make it difficult to quickly identify reserves. "Uljin is a place with a high concentration of protected pine trees," says Lee Pyeong-gu, head of the Geoscience and Mineral Resources Research Institute, "so we consulted with the forestry authorities but were told that drilling was not possible." This raises concerns about the destruction of pine colonies.

As for the Danyang deposit, a private company is already preparing to develop it. The Institute is analyzing whether to conduct another exploration to confirm the reserves. "We are considering various options for future drilling," Lee said.

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.