Photo:  CR2032 lithium button cell battery with a Japanese inscription.



Lithium, atomic number 3, is an element of many uses. It's used in the manufacture of aircraft and in certain batteries. It's also used in mental health: Lithium carbonate is a common treatment of bipolar disorder, helping to stabilize wild mood swings caused by the illness.



China has the world's sixth-largest known reserves of lithium ore, but due to the limits of domestic technology, the proportion of brine and ore directly used as raw materials in the middle and downstream fields is very low, industry insiders said.



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Afghanistan is the Saudi Arabia of lithium. @TheRealConstable Simon Constable. @Forbes HFN