It's the dream of many a metal-detecting young child to stumble upon a buried pirate treasure filled with gold coins, rubies, and pearl necklaces. But not all that glitters is gold, and not all that's treasure is gold either.
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In fact, in this unusual California lake, the most valuable treasure hidden in the water's depths is a different kind of metal that can prove much more useful in our modern world than gold coins. In a research project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, scientists have located a mine of "white gold," aka lithium, at the bottom of the Salton Sea.
The Salton Sea has an unusual history of tourism-turned-eco-nightmare. But it appears the lake's noxious nature was hiding an undiscovered deposit of wealth that has major ramifications for industry: a natural deposit that's valued at over $540 billion in California's largest inland body of water.
Just how was this vein of natural wealth found? And what does this mean for the Salton Sea?
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A History Of The Salton Sea
It was once a burgeoning resort town that turned toxic, literally
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Located in northern Imperial County in Southern California, the Salton Sea was formed in 1905 after floodwater from the Colorado River escaped an irrigation canal that was under construction in the county and flowed into a deep basin in the desert.
The size and volume of the lake has historically, then, been fed by irrigation runoff from the Imperial Valley and the Coachella Valley (yes that Coachella of music and Palm Springs fame), serving as a "sump" for agricultural runoff, as described by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
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By the mid-1900s, the lake had become a haven for migratory birds, and in the same era, developers were intrigued by this newly formed lake-in-the-desert. Soon, luxury resorts popped up along the shores of the Salton Sea, lined with palm trees and a golf course.
Salton Sea
The resort area was a hit, and celebrities from Frank Sinatra to President Eisenhower to the Beach Boys would visit for a holiday in the sun. It attracted people from all walks of life, quickly becoming a vacation destination for fishing and swimming.
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However, by the 1990s, the sea was changing, and it was no longer safe to recreationally enter the waters anymore. Since the lake was largely sustained by agricultural runoff, it was filled with the refuse of the farms, including pesticides and nitrates. These undesirable elements, when mixed with the salt naturally formed in the lake bed, increased the salinity of the water dramatically.
The salt content was so high (and noxious fumes became so bad) that masses of fish quickly began dying in droves and toxic algae blooms popped up in the water. The resorts and vacation homes were abandoned, and the Salton Sea's thriving destination enclave soon became another one of the many great American ghost towns, much like the famous Bodie in California.
People can still visit the Salton Sea and explore the remaining ghost town left behind. There is a gift shop on site, and previous visitors reported that the odor is bearable for a bit while visiting the lake. Just beware that local residents are known to suffer from asthma due to the smell, so if you have any breathing issues, perhaps steer clear.
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How Was Lithium Discovered In The Salton Sea?
From rags to riches...
What once was a popular family vacation spot akin to the beautiful resorts at Lake Tahoe quickly turned toxic and noxious. The increasingly unbearable heat of the Imperial Valley, coupled with water rights conflicts, has also drained the area of much allure and currently threatens the health of local populations.
Despite its modern un-attractiveness as a tourist destination, the lake is now being re-evaluated for something much more valuable, however. Researchers discovered that the lake bed of the Salton Sea was actually composed of geothermal aquifers that housed "lithium-infused" brine deposits.
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A UC Berkeley Lab confirmed this discovery, quantifying in their extensive report that 3.4 million tons of pure lithium is located at the bottom of the Salton Sea, of which some 2.6 million tons are considered mineable based on our current extraction technologies. This makes the formerly abandoned lake the home to the largest lithium deposit in the entire world.
Salton Sea California, at sunset
In 2020, the state established a lithium extraction commission, which was tasked with researching and analyzing the possibility of the mineral's extraction from these geothermal brines in the Salton Sea.
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It is a challenging process to extract lithium, and technology has been and is needed to be developed to make extraction possible - and safe. But the payoff could be absolutely massive for, not just the state of California, but the country, and in a very macro sense, the world.
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Why Is Lithium So Important?
It's called "white gold" for a reason
In a world that is attempting to become less reliant on fossil fuels, lithium is the absolute mineral king in achieving that transition. Lithium is used in many pieces of modern technology - from your smartphones to your laptops to tablets - and most importantly, lithium is a key component of large-scale batteries used in things like electric vehicles.
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The Salton Sea deposit could craft batteries for more than 380 million electric vehicles, removing the reliance on lithium extraction from other deposits overseas, like those near Chengdu in the Sichuan Province of China. This is, in essence, what makes lithium so valuable; much like oil is considered "black gold" as an energy resource, lithium is fast assuming the mantle of white gold for the very same reason.
Worldwide, only about 200,000 tons of lithium are consumed yearly, meaning that this Salton Sea deposit could significantly contribute to American energy resources for years to come. However, the extraction process can and will affect local populations around the Salton Sea significantly.
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Craggy beach at Salton Sea, California
In an area with already contested water issues, the extraction plants would use massive amounts of water from the Colorado River. Residents of the area are further worried that the economic benefit will not actually reach the locals, but rather will support an economy built and propagated by companies.
Naturalists are also concerned about lithium extraction's impact on the migratory bird population that still calls the Salton Sea home despite its toxicity. In the face of all of this, construction began on a new extraction plant earlier this year, and researchers and state officials are hopeful that this new hotbed of ultra-valuable material will positively impact the community.
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250,000 metric tons of battery-grade lithium is expected to be mined yearly, enough to support over 400,000 electric cars a year. Let's just hope that this is a turning of the tide for the Salton Sea and its community, human and avian.