TABLE 4 | |||||||||||
LITHIUM MINERALS AND BRINE: WORLD PRODUCTION, BY COUNTRY1, 2 | |||||||||||
(Metric tons, gross weight) | |||||||||||
----------------------------------------- Country3 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015e | ||||||
Argentina, subsurface brine: | |||||||||||
Lithium carbonate- | 10,024 | 10,535 | 9,248 | 11,698 | 14,137 | 4 | |||||
Lithium chloride | 4,605 | 4,297 | 5,156 | 7,370 | 5,848 | 4 | |||||
Australia, spodumene | 421,391 | 456,921 | 415,000 | r | 463,000 | r | 490,000 | ||||
Brazil, concentrates-- | 7,820 | 7,084 | 7,982 | 8,519 | 8,500 | ||||||
Chile, subsurface brine: | |||||||||||
Lithium carbonate | 59,933 | 62,002 | 52,358 | 55,074 | 50,418 | 4 | |||||
Lithium chloride | 3,864 | 4,145 | 4,091 | 2,985 | 2,069 | 4 | |||||
Lithium hydroxide | 5,800 | 5,447 | 4,197 | 4,194 | 3,888 | 4 | |||||
China, lithium carbonate equivalente, 5 | 11,300 | 10,000 | 11,200 | 10,100 | 10,700 | ||||||
Portugal, lepidolite-- | 37,534 | 20,698 | 19,940 | 17,459 | 17,120 | 4 | |||||
United States, carbonate | W | W | 4,600 | 6 | W | W | |||||
Zimbabwe, amblygonite, eucryptite, lepidolite, and petalitee | 48,000 | 4 | 53,000 | 4 | 50,000 | r | 50,000 | r | 50,000 | ||
eEstimated. rRevised. W Withheld to avoid disclosing company proprietary data.- | |||||||||||
1Includes data available through March 23, 2017. | |||||||||||
2Estimated data are rounded to no more than three significant digits. | |||||||||||
3In addition to the countries listed, other nations may have produced small quantities of lithium minerals, but output was not reported,- | |||||||||||
and no valid basis was available for estimating production levels. | |||||||||||
4Reported figure. | |||||||||||
5Produced from subsurface brine and concentrates. | |||||||||||
6Source: Rockwood Holdings, Inc., 2014, 2013 annual report: Rockwood Holdings, Inc., p. 16. | |||||||||||
- |
Source: United States Geological Survey Mineral Resources Program
See also: Mineral commodity prices