Did you ever bring home a big chunk of "gold" from Appalachia thinking you struck it rich, only for your family to tell you that you'd been duped?
No, just me?
... well, great news, the joke may very well be on them!
Fool's gold could kick off this century's 'gold rush' after scientists discovered it contains a highly coveted metal needed to produce greener energy.
Scientists at West Virginia University discovered a surprising amount of lithium in 15 rock samples of pyrite, the common mineral that resembles its valuable counterpart, which formed about 390 million years ago in the Appalachian basin.
Lithium is a key component in next-generation batteries. A new source of it could prove hugely beneficial to developing new energy technologies.
A lithium craze was already touched off in the U.S. last year in Oregon and Nevada:
Even Arkansas was getting in on the action:
But this latest discovery is, in some ways, more promising:
Sulfur-rich pyrite doesn't require as many resources during the extraction process which means its environmental impact is much lower than the -ion alternative.
And fool's gold is found in quartz veins that is mined throughout the US in states like Colorado, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Montana, which means there could be much more lithium hiding through the US.
Research, meanwhile, has "already begun to look at how lithium-sulfur batteries could replace lithium-ion ones."
This is a critical development, as "green" energy technologies are often anything but. Wokies who tout solar and wind and other types of new energy are often unwilling to admit the huge production, environmental and maintenance costs associated with them.
But a ton of energy hiding inside Fool's Gold? Well:
We can talk about sustainable energy without using a lot of energy resources.
So the next time you bring a nice shiny piece of rock home from that old decommissioned mine up the hill, and your family asks what it is, tell them —
... and be proud of it!
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