Now that production of Lithium-family batteries is becoming more common on a worldwide scale, how readily available are raw Lithium materials found in nature?
From the chart above, it can be seen that Lithium is between 20 to 100 times more abundant than Lead and Nickel. However, Lithium is more reactive than either metal and is not usually found in its free state, often combined with other elements. By contrast, Lead being less reactive, is more often found in its free state and is easier to extract and purify. The heavy metals Cadmium and Mercury, whose use is now deprecated because of their toxicity, are 1000 times less commonly available than Lithium. Subsurface brines have become the dominant raw material for lithium carbonate production as compared with mining and processing costs for hard-rock cores.
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