Potentially the world's largest lithium deposit has been found in a US volcano
What just happened? What is likely to be the world's largest deposit of lithium has been discovered in a volcano crater along the Nevada-Oregon border. It's estimated that the McDermitt Caldera holds between 20 million and 40 million metric tons, which would be larger than the current 21-million-ton record-holding deposit beneath the salt flats of Bolivia
https://www.techspot.com/news/100117-potentially-world-largest-lithium-deposit-has-found-us.html
Awkward how lithium batteries tend to spontaneously combust and this deposit was found inside a volcano.
Oxygen and water causes those batteries to combust. In a volcano it shouldn't bear any more specific risk than in the ground.
Here's a strange anecdote that happened to me recently. I had one of the plastic battery holders with 2 18650 lithium batteries in one of my cargo pants pockets so when my flashlight died I'd have a spare (was working out back). I forgot about the extra batteries and did my laundry the next day. The batteries went through the washer and dryer. I only found them when I was putting my clothes away.
Those plastic holders are only made to keep the batteries from touching each other so they don't short - they are not waterproof in the least.
For whatever reason they did not explode or catch fire - even after being tumble-dried. I have no idea why I didn't have a fire. They weren't even bulging or warped. These are the same batteries that have blown people's faces apart if they used an unregulated vape mod with bad electrical settings.
I took the batteries to a local store that has a battery disposal - wasn't taking any chances.
It's a trap!