The claim: The photo shows a lithium mine “for electric cars”
A Facebook post from April 14 (direct link, archive link) shows an image of an open-pit mine and another of a grassy field with cows and a single oil pump. The first image is captioned “lithium for electric cars,” while the second is captioned “oil for cars.”
The meme was shared 16,000 times in one week. The claim was also widely disseminated in other publications.
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Our rating: False
The comparison is flawed because the first image shows a facility that primarily extracts copper, not lithium.
The photo shows a copper mine.
Hollie Brown, spokesperson for the Utah Department of Natural Resources, told USA TODAY that the mine featured in the post resembles the Rio Tinto Kennecott (also known as the Bingham Mine), which is located in Utah. Both the shape of the roadway and the location and specifications of a building at the bottom of the mine shown in the post match Google Maps and Google Earth images of the Bingham Mine.
According to Brown, the facility does not mine lithium. Rio Tinto Kennecott’s website says the facility mines copper, gold, silver, molybdenum and tellurium.
The transition to electric vehicles will significantly increase lithium extraction, which is an environmentally destructive process. However, a 2023 report found that this new demand can be significantly reduced by investing in public transportation and lithium battery recycling and reducing the average size of electric vehicle batteries.
Fact check:CO2 emissions from gasoline cars exceed those of electric cars, even with the manufacture of batteries
Rio Tinto, the company that operates the mine, did not respond to requests for comment. USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Lead Stories also debunked the claim.
Our data verification sources:
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Hollie Brown, April 19, Email exchange with USA TODAY
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Rio Tinto, accessed April 21, Kennecott
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Google Maps, accessed April 21, Bingham Copper Mine
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Google Earth, accessed April 21, Bingham Mine
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Climate and Community Project, January 2023, Achieving zero emissions with more mobility and less mining
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The Guardian, January 23, 2023, Revealed: How the US transition to electric cars threatens to wreak environmental havoc
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Electric Car Meme Shows Copper Mine, Not Lithium Mine | Fact Check
