production data was withheld to avoid disclosing proprietary company dataĪustralia, the world’s leading producer, extracts lithium directly from hard rock mines, specifically the mineral spodumene.Ĭhile, along with Argentina, China, and other top producers, extracts lithium from brine. Australia and Chile: Dominating Global Lithium SupplyĪustralia and Chile stand out as the top producers of lithium, accounting for almost 77% of the global production in 2022. The infographic above uses data from the United States Geological Survey to explore the world’s largest lithium producing countries. The global lithium-ion battery market was valued at $52 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach $194 billion in 2030. Lithium has become essential in recent years, primarily due to the boom in electric vehicles and other clean technologies that rely on lithium batteries. Visualizing the World’s Largest Lithium Producers in 2022 Given the increasing importance of EVs, it will be interesting to see how the battery metals supply chain evolves going forward. In addition, Japanese miner Sumitomo Metal Mining is planning to double battery metal production by 2028.Īlthough China will likely maintain its dominance for the foreseeable future, other countries are ramping up their mining and refining capacities. Moreover, Japan is projected to move up four places with its first lithium hydroxide refining plant under construction. Argentina is projected to jump up to eighth place thanks to its massive lithium resources and multiple mining projects in advanced stages. Sweden’s rank rises five places between 20p, largely due to an expected increase in its mining capacity with nickel and graphite projects in the pipeline. However, it’s important to note that these are among the top 10 countries for cell and component manufacturing-the next step in the lithium-ion battery supply chain. On the other end of the spectrum, Poland, Hungary, Sweden, and Thailand are tied at rank 22. Following Australia is Brazil, one of the world’s top 10 producers of graphite, nickel, manganese, and lithium. Additionally, China is the world’s largest producer of graphite, the primary anode material for Li-ion batteries.Īustralia comes in at number two due to its massive lithium production capacity and nickel reserves. CountryĬhina’s dominance in the rankings shows that refining capacity is just as important, if not more, as access to raw materials and mining capacity.Ĭhina does not boast an abundance of battery metal deposits but ranks first largely due to its control over 80% of global raw material refining capacity. Now that we have a better understanding of how the rankings work, here are the top 25 nations for raw materials in the Li-ion supply chain in 20.
The Top 25 Nations Supplying Battery Metals Miners extract these minerals from economically viable deposits and refine them from their raw forms into high-quality products and chemicals for EV batteries. However, there are five battery minerals that are considered critical for Li-ion batteries: The raw materials that batteries use can differ depending on their chemical compositions. Battery Metals: The Critical Raw Materials for EV Batteries
The above graphic uses data from BloombergNEF to rank the top 25 countries producing the raw materials for Li-ion batteries. But batteries do not grow on trees-the raw materials for them, known as “battery metals”, have to be mined and refined. The vast majority of EVs use lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, which harness the properties of minerals and elements to power the vehicles.
The Role of Mining in the EV Battery Supply Chainīatteries are one of the most important and expensive components of electric vehicles (EVs).
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