Economic and Political Analyst
United States of America which was once the sole super power after the collapse of Soviet Union had the chance to promote peace, harmony and share advance technologies with poor countries and to do justice with the people of Palestine and Kashmir to won the hearts of 1.75 million Muslims who played the leading role to get the position of sole super power of the world, but it missed the train. It made Human Rights issue a political weapon to gain its upper hand and to dictate its policies. The kind of democracy it has in its internal affairs does not exhibit in its external and foreign policies. It committed crime against humanity in Iraq and Afghanistan by killing thousands of innocent people including women, children and elderly people. Guantanamo Bay and Abu Gharib are the examples of these atrocities. USA and West have dual standards at the one hand they backed Isreal and India and had given them open hands to crush Palestinian and Kashmiri people and imposed illegal and inhuman sanctions against Iran for the last forty years. These sanctions are toughest and longest one in the modern history. Iran has firm belief in Allah Almighty and exhibited exemplary unity, resilience and accepted challenges imposed on it by western countries. Despite these toughest sanctions it not only survived but made significant economic and political advancement.
Allah Almighty blessed Iran and recently Iranian people and Muslim ummah got two good news first the restoration of ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia and second Iran’s minister of Industry announced ,” The discovery of the first Lithium reserves estimated to be 8.5 million tons of Lithium Carbonate equivalent (LEC) in Hamdan province signaling news of the possibility of other reserves in the western Iranian Region”.
Around 7% of global mineral resources are found in Iran, making it one of the most important mineral producers in the world; possessing major reserves of Zinc, Copper, Salt, Coal, Iron ore, Uranium, Lead, Gold, Bauxite (for aluminum), Antimony, Sulphur and now a new addition of Lithium. Iranian government and its leadership focusing efforts on supporting an export oriented industry and knowledge based manufacturers to research and produce new machines as parts of areas for development in the extractive sector. Through mining, Iran was able to generate billions of dollars of hard currency reserves for the country while creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs for youth.
Iran now holds the second largest lithium reserves in the world. It is the largest deposit outside of the South America, second only to 9.2 million tons deposit in Chile. The global lithium reserves are estimated 89 million tons, Iran may possibly posses almost one tenth of the world’s lithium supply. Iran can market its mineral potential to further attract foreign investment of hard currency into the economy from lithium exploration. Iran holds wider geo political importance, Iran may leverage lithium to further enhance its relations with countries which use lithium in battery manufacturing. China is the largest consumer of lithium due to electronic manufacturing and EV industries, producing more than three quarters of the world’s lithium-ion batteries and controlling most of the world’s lithium processing facilities leading the global battery race. With improving ties with Saudi Arabia and reducing tension and enhancing durable peace in the region Iran now has wider ground to play. There is a chance Iran might invite Saudi Arabia to invest in Iran especially in lithium extraction. Lithium is also called, “White gold” for rapidly growing electric vehicles (EVs) in industry. Lithium is also used in batteries of mobile phones. The market price skyrocketed in the last year due to higher demand for electric vehicles (EVs) global supply chain problems and inflation. This discovery will boost Iran’s economy. In next two years, Goldman Sachs expects Lithium’s supply to grow on average by a sustainable 34% year on year led by Australia and China which hold some of the largest supply of batteries in the world. In terms of lithium-ion battery supply chain, data from Bloomberg NEF suggest China controls 80% of the of the world’s raw material refining, 77% of the world’s cell capacity and 60% of the world’s components manufacturing demand for the lithium to reach 117 kilotons by 2024, driven by growth of EV battery production, particularly in China. Electric Vehicles production projected to increase from 3.4 million in 2020 to 12.7 million by 2024. According to analysis from Global Data, lithium demand will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 25.5 % over the four years period rising from 47 kilotons (kt) to 47 kt.
China will be the key driver of growth as it ramps up its battery-manufacturing activities a sector in which it already dominates the global market place. GlobalData estimates that China’s lithium, China supplies 35 critical minerals, including lithium. The European union has also recently added lithium to its own list of these strategic minerals for which it wants to establish more robust supply chains. The European Commission estimates the region will require up to 60 times more lithium by 2050 compared to current levels of demands. China’s success has come as a result of its large domestic battery demands, alongside its control over 80% of the world’s raw material refining.
Since China and Iran have strategic alliance therefore discovery of Lithium in Iran has a significant importance and it seems that Iran’s future is very bright.
Lithium ion battery supply chain ranking 2020
Country 2020 rank Raw material Cell & components Environment RS Demand
China 1 1 1 16 11 1
Japan 2 12 2 6 7 6
South Korea 3 17 2 9 5 2
Canada 4 4 10 4 10 11
Germany 4 17 6 12 2 2
USA 6 15 4 13 6 2
UK 7 17 6 9 4 6
Finland 8 11 13 5 3 13
France 8 17 13 1 9 5
Sweden 10 22 13 3 1 8
Australia 11 2 13 21 12 8
Brazil 12 3 13 2 24 23
Poland 12 22 5 11 13 14
Hungry 12 22 6 8 14 15
Czech Republic 15 17 10 17 8 17
India 16 9 13 19 18 11
Lithium ion Battery Supply Chain Ranking Expected 2050
Country 2020 rank Raw material Cell & components Environment RS Demand
China 1 1 1 15 11 1
Japan 2 8 3 7 7 8
South Korea 8 16 2 13 5 9
Canada 5 3 12 4 10 6
Germany 6 22 6 9 2 3
USA 3 13 3 7 6 2
UK 8 17 8 10 4 4
Finland 7 10 8 6 3 17
France 10 17 12 1 9 5
Sweden 4 17 7 3 1 17
Australia 11 2 12 19 12 11
Brazil 12 7 18 2 24 15
Poland 13 22 5 12 13 19
Hungry 15 22 8 11 14 18
Czech Republic 16 17 12 17 8 21
India 16 13 18 21 18 10