International lithium mine utilization technology: current status, innovation and prospects

Compared with the domestic lithium resources utilization, the overall development of foreign lithium mining development and utilization technology starts earlier, but the regional development is extremely uneven. The technological innovation in Europe, America and Australia is strong, and disruptive technologies have frequently appeared recently. The comprehensive development and utilization of multiple minerals in lithium mines is a trend, which is an important direction for reducing costs, improving benefits and environmental protection. The vertical integration of mining, sorting and smelting is an important option for innovation, efficiency enhancement and process optimization. From a geographical point of view, the America is the cradle of lithium technology in the world, and the South American lithium triangle has stable technology and low cost, and is on the eve of technological innovation. Africa has a large amount of resources, mainly hard rock, and is limited by infrastructure. Innovation and comprehensive development and utilization of mica-type extraction technology are the way out. Australia"s hard rock mine has the strongest development intensity, skilled technology, and cost pressure has spawned more optimized and innovative projects. The demand of the European market has driven the development of local lithium mines, and the integration of mining, dressing and smelting projects has increased. New types of lithium mines, such as saline brine, hard rock, clay sedimentation, and geothermal brine extraction technology, will have breakthroughs in the near future.