An expert has revealed how the $540 billion of ‘white gold’ that was discovered could impact the global economy forever.
A study of a US lake uncovered around 18 million tons of lithium, which is worth a whopping $540 billion.
It’s thought that the fortune is sitting at the bottom of Salton Sea in California.
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The material is known as ‘white gold’ because of its appearance and also its value but it has some practical uses too.
Lithium is commonly used in mobile phone batteries, laptops and electric cars.
It’s also found in things like pacemakers, toys and even clocks.
The amount found in California would be enough to power over 382 million electric cars.
Michael McKibben, who is one of the study’s authors and a geochemistry professor at the University of California, said: “This is one of the largest lithium brine deposits in the world.
“This could make the United States completely self-sufficient in lithium and stop importing it through China.”
If this was to happen, it’d have a major impact on the economy.
This is largely due to the fact that China is currently the second-biggest exporter of electric vehicles (EV), behind Germany.
According to Tendata, China was responsible for 22.7% of the world's EV exports, worth a huge $34.1 billion.
The US was further down the table as the sixth-largest, exporting just 4.8%, worth $7.26 billion.
However, EV imports to the US from China increased from $7.2 million to $388.8 million between 2018 to 23, according to the US Trade Commission.
So it could be a pretty big blow to China if the US was no longer importing their EVs.
And the US would then be exporting more of its own EVs too, which would have a knock-on effect on the rest of the big exporters.
As of 2023, China has the largest market share of EVs at 37% of all new cars, while Europe is second with 24 percent and the US in third with 9.5%.
The US could increase their exports and their market share, making them more money and establishing themselves as EV leaders - something Elon Musk would certainly be celebrating.
And work has already begun on lithium extraction from Salton Sea .
In January, construction of the first large-scale direct lithium extraction plant near the lake began, the first of seven planned phases for the $1.85 billion facility, as per ENR California.