|
| TABLE 4 | ||||||||||
| LITHIUM MINERALS AND BRINE: WORLD PRODUCTION, BY COUNTRY1, 2 | ||||||||||
| (Metric tons) | ||||||||||
| ����������������������������������������� Country3 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007e | |||||
| Argentina:4 | ||||||||||
| Lithium carbonate� | 2,850 | e | 4,970 | 7,300 | 8,240 | r | 8,500 | |||
| Lithium chloride | 4,700 | e | 6,303 | 8,400 | 8,320 | r | 8,500 | |||
| Australia, spodumene | 124,410 | 118,451 | 173,635 | 222,101 | r | 220,000 | ||||
| Brazil, concentrates�� | 9,755 | r | 9,084 | r | 8,924 | r | 8,950 | r | 9,000 | |
| Canada, spodumenee, 5 | 22,500 | 22,500 | 22,500 | 22,500 | 22,500 | |||||
| Chile:4 | ||||||||||
| Lithim carbonate from subsurface brine | 41,667 | 43,971 | 43,595 | 50,035 | r | 55,500 | ||||
| Lithium chloride | -- | 494 | 681 | 1,166 | 4,200 | |||||
| China, carbonate e | 13,500 | 14,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 16,000 | |||||
| Portugal, lepidolite�� | 24,606 | r | 28,696 | r | 26,185 | r | 28,497 | r | 28,500 | |
| Russia, minerals not specified6 | -- | r | -- | r | -- | r | -- | r | -- | |
| United States, subsurface brine | W | W | W | W | W | |||||
| Zimbabwe, amblygonite, eucryptite, lepidolite, petalite, and spodumene | 12,131 | 13,710 | 37,499 | 30,000 | 15,000 | |||||
| eEstimated� �rRevised. W Withheld to avoid disclosing company proprietary data.� -- Zero. | ||||||||||
| 1Table includes data available through April 23, 2008. | ||||||||||
| 2Estimated data are rounded to no more than three significant digits. | ||||||||||
| 3In addition to the countries listed, other nations may produce small quantities of lithium minerals, but output is not reported, and no valid basis is | ||||||||||
| available for estimating production levels. | ||||||||||
| 4New information was available from Argentine and Chilean sources, prompting major revisions in how lithium production was reported.��������������� | ||||||||||
| 5Based on all Canada's spodumene concentrates (Tantalum Mining Corp. of Canada Ltd.'s Tanco property). | ||||||||||
| 6Based on new information from a Russian source, Lithium production was discontinued in Russia during the early 1990's. Other countries from the��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� | ||||||||||
| Commonwealth of Independent States, including Uzbekistan, could have produced or could be producing lithium, but information is not available for� | ||||||||||
| estimating production levels. | ||||||||||
Source: United States Geological Survey Mineral Resources Program