MOUNT PLEASANT. MICH. — Wearing a white lab coat in a windowless laboratory, Dr. Mona Sirbescu took an x-ray of a rock, analyzing its chemical composition.
"Now you are seeing aluminum, 19%. Silicon, 14%," said Sirbescu, a geology professor at Central Michigan University.
For the past few years, Sirbescu has been looking for lithium in soil and rock samples, trying to find a more efficient way to mine the element.
The lightest metal on the periodic table, lithium can be difficult to source. While one million pounds of bedrock typically contain only 20 pounds of lithium, it's a common component in the making of batteries for electric cars.
"We are currently living through a critical shift," Sirbescu said. "We need to change our ways from burning fossil fuels."
This summer, the professor and a trio of students sampled outcrops in Northern Wisconsin, a ten-day research trip that covered ten square miles of mostly forested land.
"Together, we made a perfect team because I came with the experience," said Sirbescu, who went on a similar trip the year prior. "They came with the enthusiasm."
In search of lithium-rich deposits, the team scanned certain areas with special, handheld tools, revealing the chemical composition of what lay a few millimeters beneath the surface, including elements that naturally occur alongside lithium.
"We gain knowledge, we discover things," Sirbescu said. "Who is not excited about discovering new deposits of lithium? It's spectacular."
Now back in Mount Pleasant, Sirbescu studies the hundreds of pounds of rock and soil samples, putting some beneath a microscope, dissolving others in acid.
"We are living through a true white gold rush," she said of the white-powered element.
If Sirbescu's methods of sampling and study prove worthwhile, they could be replicated at a larger, commercial scale, fixing future problems in a future supply chain.
"We need to change. We need to look for clean carbon solutions," she said. "I'm very excited to be a part of this type of research."
