Silver Peak Stands Alone as U.S. Lithium Resource

February 20, 2025

Silver Peak, Nevada, has the look of a landscape from a Star Wars movie. 

While it may not be the setting of an intergalactic fight for freedom, lithium from Albemarle’s Silver Peak site—the only producing lithium mine in U.S.—does contribute to the U.S. space program. 

Lithium has earned a bit of limelight recently, as more people recognize the importance of this essential element.  

Less than 2% of the world’s lithium production comes from the United States today, and almost all of that is sourced from Albemarle’s Silver Peak facility, located about 200 miles northwest of Las Vegas.  

The site has been producing lithium since the 1960s, playing a role in many aspects of modern life — the rise of technologies such as smartphones, aerospace and aviation, building and construction materials, and lubricating greases needed for automotives and heavy machinery.  

The site features highly skilled employees with the right expertise to provide a secure supply of essential elements to customers around the world. 

But Brandon Swanson, a hydrogeologist at Albemarle, humbly gives all the credit to the unique geologic features, an arid climate and abundance of sunshine. 

“It’s a perfect evaporation environment,” he says, that allows Albemarle to use a solar evaporation process on the site’s lithium-enriched brines.  

Silver Peak is situated in Clayton Valley, a 38-square-mile basin where non-potable brine, four times saltier than seawater, has gathered in aquifers about 300 to 2,000 feet below the valley's floor. The brine contains lithium that has dissolved out of the area’s sedimentary rocks, clay, and volcanic ash over thousands of years.  

To the west, the White Mountains and Silver Peak range loom over the valley to create a rain shadow effect, which, combined with the region’s nearly 300 days of sunshine each year, delivers an arid climate with plenty of solar power. It's ideal for a brine evaporation process.  

The 60-person team at Silver Peak uses a series of wells to pump the brine to the surface and into a system of ponds where evaporation concentrates the dissolved lithium over a period of months. The brine is transferred from one pond to another as its concentration increases until it reaches a level high enough for conversion to lithium carbonate. 

According to Albemarle’s most recent estimates, the resource can support about 30 years of additional production. And as the resource geologist for the site, Swanson studies sub-surface water formations to preserve the resource through sustainable development.  

“It’s very complex, and you are constantly reanalyzing new ways to extract the brine in a manner that is sustainable for the environment and the resource,” he says.  

Swanson recognizes the benefits millions of people may receive from this isolated part of the desert that they will never see. But he’s one of a few people who get to enjoy the view. “The Clayton Valley is a beautiful place and depending on the time of year, has some absolutely stunning sunsets,” Swanson says. “It’s what also makes the resource special.”