With lithium being such a volatile and reactive element, how does such a large deposit of the element not just explode with coming in contact with the air? Is there a bigger danger when mining lithium compared to other materials? What happens if it rains or a large amount of water comes into contact with the mine?
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Sodium is a volatile and reactive element very similar to lithium.
How do we mine Sodium? We look for large deposits of Sodium Chloride… aka “table salt”.
The Lithium deposits you’re hearing about in the news are non-reactive ores or salts like that – not raw metallic lithium. Those ores/salts contain lots of lithium but in a form that is non-reactive. (Or rather, you could say that the lithium has *already* reacted with other materials to form that salt/ore.)
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