[Novalug] OT: Investing -- How to -- precious metals

Nino Pereira pereira@speakeasy.net
Fri Nov 6 17:17:26 EST 2009


>> Not only is Lithium good for computer batteries, car batteries, etc.
>> I've heard it can be made into something called Valium........ SOFL
>> ( Seizure On Floor Laughing )
>>
>> The Lithium is in Chile,
> 
> Bolivia, actually
> 
>>  it's simply lying around on the surface,

actually, not. It's lying around on the surface, or rather, in the
rock that sticks out of the surface, in many places including
North Carolina, the headquarters of what used to be the Lithium
Corporation of America (now German-owned). But, later on, the
major source of lithium became Searles Lake in California
(google for 'searles lithium'). Subsequently, a larger source
of lithium was found in Chile (where most of the lithium that
is made now comes from), and very recently a still larger
source was found in Bolivia. This is not yet commercial
to my knowledge.

Lithium is only found chemically bound, never the pure metal. For
batteries you need the metal, which is made by electrolysis
(to my knowledge, in the US mostly by DuPont at its sodium plant
with hydro-electric power from the Niagara Falls).

Lithium is indeed used in drugs, but much more in organic
chemistry. One very small application is as lens for x-rays.

In any case, the story is more complicated than you'd think, and still vastly
more complicated than what I wrote down, or what I know.

Nino

> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Novalug mailing list
> Novalug@calypso.tux.org
> http://calypso.tux.org/mailman/listinfo/novalug
> 
> 



More information about the Novalug mailing list