$1.5 trillion lithium deposit discovered under ancient US super volcano | World News - The Times of India

Geologists have identified a massive lithium deposit beneath the McDermitt caldera, an ancient supervolcano located along the Nevada-Oregon border. Estimates suggest the resource could be among the largest in the world, with a potential in situ value reaching $1.5 trillion. Specifically, the Thacker Pass site alone is estimated to contain 533 million tonnes of ore. The lithium is hosted in illitic clay minerals within tuffaceous sediments that filled the caldera approximately 16.4 million years ago. While development at Thacker Pass is progressing, the scale of the find has significant strategic implications for the global battery supply chain and the electric vehicle industry. Regulatory and environmental reviews are ongoing as researchers continue to map the extent of the mineralization across the caldera.