While most people associate lithium with batteries, it has several lesser-known and surprising applications. Lithium plays a role in everything from glass and ceramics, to cooling systems, high-temperature lubricants, and medicine, nuclear, and emerging energy tech — often in ways completely invisible to the general public.
According to the International Energy Agency, global lithium demand is expected to reach 531,000 tonnes by 2030 – up from 165,000 tonnes in 2023. This surge is primarily driven by the electrification of transportation and the expansion of energy storage systems.
Similarly, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence projects demand to reach 2.4 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent by 2030, nearly 1.8 million tonnes more than current 2025 levels.
Yet lithium is far more than a “battery metal”. It has many uses hidden from view. Many of these rely on its unique electrochemical, thermal, or chemical properties that no other element can replicate as efficiently.
For example, the soft, silvery-white alkali metal lowers the melting point of silica and improves thermal shock resistance. As such, it has applications in ovenware, cooktops, ceramic glazes, and specialty glass (like smartphone screens and telescope lenses).
What may not be widely known is that lithium carbonate is a key ingredient in fused glass tiles and some specialty optics, as per US Geological Survey (USGS).
Lithium salts can absorb and release large amounts of heat, which is why it’s used in air conditioning and heat pumps. Lithium bromide works as a desiccant in absorption chillers for large industrial air-conditioning systems.
Some cooling systems in hospitals and data centres rely on lithium-based heat-transfer chemicals rather than traditional compressors.
Lithium soaps (lithium hydroxide reacted with fatty acids) are excellent thickening agents. It’s used in high-temperature lubricating greases for automotive, aviation, and industrial machinery.
What’s not widely known is that these greases can perform in temperatures from -30°C to 200°C, far beyond what ordinary petroleum greases can handle.
In the world of pharmaceuticals and mental health, lithium salts can stabilise mood and reduce mania. It’s used to treat bipolar disorder and sometimes severe depression.
The therapeutic doses of lithium are far lower than industrial doses, but lithium’s presence in trace amounts in drinking water has also been linked to subtle mental health benefits in epidemiological studies.
Lithium-6 can absorb neutrons and produce tritium. Lithium compounds can work as coolants in experimental nuclear fusion reactors because of their heat absorption and neutron interaction properties, as per the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
In terms of emerging technologies, lithium hydroxide is used to scrub CO₂ in submarines and spacecraft. Lithium hydride is being studied as a high-density hydrogen carrier for fuel cells, and lithium ions can change the transparency of smart glass for energy-efficient buildings.
Out of this world
NASA used lithium hydroxide canisters in the Apollo missions and continues using it in modern spacecraft. A NASA-funded study suggests that most of the lithium in our solar system — and even in the galaxy — came from bright stellar explosions called classical novae.
Researchers led by Arizona State University, funded by a NASA theory grant, used a mixture of computer predictions and observational data to determine how much lithium is produced in a nova explosion.
While the big bang created a small amount of lithium in the initial formation of the universe, NASA says the majority of lithium gets manufactured in the nuclear reactions that power the nova explosions. The study suggests the nova explosions would then distribute that lithium throughout the galaxy, and deliver most of the lithium used today in electronics and medicine.
NASA notes the insight about lithium represents one piece of the puzzle that many astronomers are working on: Which kinds of stellar processes produce which elements.
Lithium mysteries, extraction strategies
There are a few rarely discussed, peculiar, and verifiable facts about lithium and mining the metal. Lithium can be extracted from oilfield wastewater and petroleum brines – and energy companies are moving in.
While most people associate lithium with brines (Chile and Argentina) or hard rock (Australia), petroleum drilling wastewater can contain commercially viable lithium concentrations.
Companies like Standard Lithium (NYSE:LSI) and E3 Lithium (TSX-V:ETL) are partnering with oil and gas firms to extract lithium from produced water or residual brines in depleted oil reservoirs. This unusual source could turn old oilfields into lithium mines.
Another peculiar fact is that the world’s most promising future lithium source may be clays and mica but extraction is still chemically unsolved. While clay-hosted lithium resources such as Thacker Pass or McDermitt Caldera are enormous, no clay-lithium project has yet reached full-scale commercial production.
The technical challenge is unusual as lithium is tightly bonded within mineral lattices like illite, hectorite, and zinnwaldite, requiring roasting, acid leaching, or novel ion-exchange processes. Some companies are still trying to invent viable chemistry at scale – so the largest resources on Earth remain largely untouched.
One of the more advanced plays in this space is the Tonopah Flats Lithium Project in Nevada, which is one of the largest identified claystone resource deposits in the US and is being developed by American Battery Technology Company (ABTC).
ABTC published a Prefeasibility Study (PFS) on the project in October 2025, which indicates a 45-year life of mine based on the development of the southern portion of the property.
Pilot operations at the site are expected to begin in 2026-27, with the initial phase of commercial production due to begin in 2028. The project may achieve full capacity in 2030-31.
Another interesting fact is that lithium evaporation ponds can lose up to 95% of the brine as vapour – the lithium is only in the final 5%. Lithium brine mining in South America’s salars is often criticised for water use but the peculiar chemistry is rarely explained.
Over one to two years of evaporation, more than 95% of the pumped brine is lost to the atmosphere as water vapour, leaving a small fraction of concentrated salts that contain lithium.
This means lithium mining consumes water even though water is never the final product, a nuance often missed in coverage of “water usage”.
Pantera Lithium (ASX:PFE) welcomes the decision by the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission (AOGC) to approve the state-mandated 2.5% mineral owner minimum lithium royalty structure for brine-based lithium projects within the Smackover Formation.
The company says the royalty, initially applying to the Standard Lithium-Equinor joint venture, sets a critical commercial precedent for all developers in the region, including Pantera.
The 2.5% gross royalty is only levied once lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, or other lithium product is produced and sold, not at the point of brine extraction-protecting early stage economics and ensuring downstream margin retention.
Pantera notes this royalty level is competitive on a global basis. It is materially lower than recent royalty increases imposed in jurisdictions, where fiscal changes have undermined project economics and investor confidence.
Upshot of downstream processing
Still, Venari Minerals (ASX:ASE) CEO Matt Healy believes the expected tripling of global demand by 2030 will largely be driven by lithium’s more commonly known applications – EVs, as well as stationary storage, electric trucks, and buses.
Echoing these sentiments, Q2 Metals’ (TSX-V:QTWO) CEO Chris Ackerman adds that adoption of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) is accelerating, which will also be a main driver of demand, as reported.
With such a large number of uses and applications it’s little wonder that the downstream processing market is beginning to see an inflection point.
One example is integrated lithium and renewable energy company Vulcan Energy (ASX:VUL) in October signing an offtake agreement with Glencore (LSE:GLEN) to provide battery-quality lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM) from the phase one Lionheart Project in Europe.
Lionheart, located in the Upper Rhine Valley bordering Germany and France, will have capacity to produce 275 gigawatt per hour of power and 24,000 tonnes of LHM. Lionheart’s capacity is enough power and LHM to cater to 500,000 battery electric vehicles per year.
Under the eight-year deal, Glencore will purchase between 36,000 and 44,000 tonnes of battery-quality LHM, which represents 20% of Vulcan’s current planned output over the period. The agreement is subject to finalising project financing, as well as beginning commercial production and product qualification.
Vulcan expects to start commercial production during 2028 and product qualification the following year.
CEO Cris Moreno says Vulcan has achieved a good mix of offtake partners for the phase one lithium production – an automaker, a battery maker, a cathode manufacturer, and a commodities trader.
“The agreement also gives Vulcan the flexibility to bring in further European customers in the future, while also utilising Glencore’s expertise in this market, which is a value-add to Vulcan,” Moreno says.
Glencore Head of Lithium Robin Francois adds that the agreement further expands the company’s lithium portfolio and reinforces its position as a supplier of battery raw materials.
Patagonia Lithium (ASX:PL3) is seeking to build a pilot scale direct lithium extraction (DLE) demonstration plant as it develops its Formentera Lithium Brine Project in the Jujuy province of Argentina in the ‘lithium triangle’.
The mass balance and flow sheet for the demonstration plant has been completed and only requires final design and costing. This design will first feed into a Scoping Study, and later advance into a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) in 2026.
With lithium sentiment expected to strengthen as EV penetration increases and DLE technologies improve recovery and economics, Executive Chairman Phil Thomas tells Mining.com.au the company is positioning itself to capture the rebound.
A battery of uses
Meanwhile, in September Livium’s (ASX:LIT) wholly owned subsidiary Envirostream extended its agreement with LG Energy Solution (KRX:373220) to provide lithium-ion battery recycling and disposal services for a further three years.
Envirostream will receive guaranteed volumes of end-of-life batteries, which LG retains the right to purchase black mass generated from the batteries.
Speaking to Mining.com.au, CEO Simon Linge says a large contribution to the agreement extension is Livium’s performance in its duties, which bolstered the contractual relationship. According to Linge, LG plays an effective role in sourcing recalled batteries from the market, for Livium to recycle.
“They are at the back half of that or the back third of that recall program, but as you can imagine, you get an initial surge, and then it’s harder to get the last bit of the tail,” Linge says.
In July, Lithium Universe (ASX:LU7) completed its acquisition of privately held New Age Minerals, a party with an exclusive licensing agreement with Macquarie University.
The acquisition gives Lithium Universe exclusive rights to patented photovoltaic solar panel recycling technology known as Microwave Joule Heating Technology.
The technology platform uses microwave technology to selectively heat silicon thereby softening the EVA encapsulant in solar panels, enabling easy delamination and potential recovery of valuable materials at room temperature.
Executive Chairman Iggy Tan says achieving this milestone allows the company to begin working more closely with the Macquarie University team.
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
Images: Arcadium Lithium, Unsplash, Our World in Data & NASA
