Thailand discovers huge "white gold mine", 3rd largest reserve in the world

According to Nikkei Asia on January 20, Thai officials announced that the country has just discovered a lithium mine with the third largest estimated reserves in the world . Lithium is an important resource for producing electric vehicle batteries.

Accordingly, lithium deposits were found at two locations in Phang-Nga province in southern Thailand. One of the deposits has an estimated lithium reserve of up to 14.8 million tons, while the other location is still being surveyed.

According to the Thai government , large reserves of sodium are also found in the northeast of the country. Sodium is also an important resource for the production of electric vehicle batteries.

The discovery of large lithium and sodium resources is a driving force for Thailand to achieve its goal of becoming an electric vehicle manufacturing hub for Southeast Asia. Ms. Rudklao Intawong Suwankiri, Deputy Government Spokesperson of Thailand, said that the large lithium reserves will attract many electric vehicle manufacturers to set up production facilities in Thailand in the future.

Lithium is known as "white gold" or "oil of the 21st century". This metal plays an important role in the production of batteries for electric vehicles, smartphones, electronic devices... According to the International Energy Agency, the demand for lithium in the energy industry will increase 42 times by 2040.

And with this new discovery, Thailand has the third largest known reserves of lithium after Bolivia (21 million tonnes) and Argentina (20 million tonnes). However, it is unclear how much lithium Thailand can extract for commercial use.

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s government has made efforts to promote Thailand as a regional hub for electric vehicle production a priority. At the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Prime Minister Srettha met with industry leaders, including the vice president of Bosch, to encourage investment in electric vehicle production in Thailand.

In December 2023, two major electric vehicle companies in China said they would invest 2.3 billion baht to develop Thailand into an electric vehicle manufacturing hub.

China has also recently discovered lithium reserves of about 1 million tons in Sichuan province, Xinhua News Agency reported on January 18.

According to the US Geological Survey, China currently holds about 7% of the world's discovered lithium reserves, ranking sixth behind Bolivia, Argentina, the US, Chile and Australia (not to mention Thailand).

Minh Hoa (according to Tuoi Tre, Nong Nghiep Viet Nam)

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