Arkansas May Be Sitting On 19M Tons Of Lithium Amid Rising Demand For EV Batteries: How To Invest In What Elon Musk Calls 'The New Oil'

In a recent study, researchers have suggested that Arkansas could potentially hold a significant amount of lithium, a crucial component for electric car batteries and other high-tech products.

What Happened: The researchers, in a study published in the journal Science Advances, have estimated that there could be between 5.1 to 19 million tons of lithium in the Smackover Formation brines in southern Arkansas, reported The Hill. This amount could potentially make up 35 to 136% of the current U.S. lithium resource estimate.

The researchers used a machine-learning model trained on published and newly collected brine lithium concentration data to create a map of predicted lithium concentrations in Smackover Formation brines across southern Arkansas.

Lithium ETFs offer a way to diversify your investments across multiple companies poised to benefit from the growing demand for lithium.

Some of the top lithium ETFs to consider include the Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF LIT, Amplify Lithium and Battery Technology ETF BATT, First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index Fund QCLN, iShares Global Clean Energy ETF ICLN, and the VanEck Vectors Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF REMX.

See Also: Investors Lost Over 95% Of Their Wealth In This Nvidia-Linked ETF While Jensen Huang-Led Chip Giant Gained 220% In The Past Year: Here’s More

Why It Matters: Automakers and tech companies are scrambling to secure their lithium supplies, with some even investing in mining projects, such as General Motors‘ joint venture with Lithium Americas LAC for the Thacker Pass lithium project in Nevada.

Meanwhile, in Europe, the Serbian parliament’s decision not to ban lithium exploration and exploitation has kept Rio Tinto‘s RIO major Jadar project alive.

In January, Microsoft Corp MSFT revealed its collaboration with a U.S. national laboratory to create an innovative battery material that decreases lithium consumption by 70%, attracting interest from Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk.

Moreover, in July 2022 Musk tweeted that “lithium batteries are the new oil,” responding to Craft Ventures co-founder David Sacks‘ comments about the importance of energy independence amid oil challenges from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Kaustubh Bagalkote