{"id":1473216,"date":"2022-05-12T14:14:45","date_gmt":"2022-05-12T18:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1473216"},"modified":"2022-05-12T14:14:49","modified_gmt":"2022-05-12T18:14:49","slug":"fact-check-viral-post-spreads-misinformation-about-oil-wells-and-lithium-mines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-viral-post-spreads-misinformation-about-oil-wells-and-lithium-mines\/","title":{"rendered":"FACT CHECK: Viral Post Spreads Misinformation About Oil Wells And Lithium Mines"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffact-check-viral-post-spreads-misinformation-about-oil-wells-and-lithium-mines%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1473216&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>A post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/photo.php?fbid=10224089248916924&#038;set=a.10201443060136358&#038;type=3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">shared on Facebook<\/a> claims to show images of an oil well and a lithium mine and alleges that lithium mining is significantly worse for the environment than drilling for oil.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Verdict: Misleading<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The image featured in the post shows a copper mine, not a lithium mine. Mining experts refuted some of the post\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Fact Check:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Facebook <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/photo.php?fbid=10224089248916924&#038;set=a.10201443060136358&#038;type=3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">post<\/a>, which has been shared over 110,000 times, claims to show an image of an oil well and another of a lithium mine. \u201cThe top is a oil well, where 100% organic material is pumped out of the ground, taking up around 500 to 1000 square feet,\u201d the lengthy post claims. \u201cThe bottom is just one of Teslas lithium supply mines where entire mountains are eliminated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The post goes on to allege that while oil wells are safe and compact, lithium mining requires the use of hundreds of large vehicles, including \u201c35-40 797 cat haul trucks\u201d that each allegedly use \u201caround half a million gallons of diesel a year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo with a inventory of just 35 the haul trucks alone are using 17.5 million gallons of fuel a year for just one lithium site,\u201d reads the post. \u201cSo next time you are driving your electric car thinking you are saving the environment remember that it came at a cost of entire mountains, thousands of square miles of land and billions of gallons of oil and fuel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lithium is an important ingredient in electric car batteries, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/05\/06\/business\/lithium-mining-race.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The New York Times<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/checkyourfact.com\/2019\/09\/19\/fact-check-lithium-electric-cars-environment-oil-fossil-fuels\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Do These Images Show The Differences Between The Environmental Impact Of Lithium Mining And Oil Sands Extraction?)<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Some of the post\u2019s claims are inaccurate. While the top photo does show an oil well and can be found on the stock photo website <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/R5Ob28wpWzo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Unsplash<\/a>, the bottom photo does not show a lithium mine. A reverse image search reveals it can be found on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/photo\/ore-trucks-in-an-open-pit-mine-royalty-free-image\/172252452?adppopup=true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Getty Images<\/a> with a description that reads, \u201cOre trucks in an open-pit mine. Calama, Atacama desert. North Chile.\u201d The mine in question is used primarily to mine copper, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/eros.usgs.gov\/image-gallery\/earthshot\/chuquicamata-mine-chile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">U.S. Geological Survey<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A number of experts disagreed with the post\u2019s assertions. <a href=\"https:\/\/mining.mines.edu\/project\/enders-m-stephen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dr. Merritt Enders<\/a>, professor and department head of the Mining Engineering Department at the Colorado School of Mines, told Check Your Fact in an email that \u201cOil wells take up a lot more that 500 square feet\u201d and stated they could require up to an acre given the amount of equipment needed. He also pushed back on the post\u2019s claims about lithium mining.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMining does not \u2018eliminate entire mountains\u2019, and most lithium is processed in <a href=\"https:\/\/piedmontlithium.com\/why-lithium\/lithium-101\/where-lithium-comes-from-does-make-a-difference-brine-vs-hard-rock\/#:~:text=Let&#039;s%20take%20a%20look%20at,are%20enriched%20in%20dissolved%20lithium.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">brines<\/a> not requiring any haul trucks,\u201d explained Enders. \u201cSome hard rock lithium deposits are mined using surface mining methods.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In these surface operations, he said \u201cThe number of trucks and the size of these trucks depends on the size of the mine\u201d but did note that one \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cat.com\/en_US\/products\/new\/equipment\/off-highway-trucks\/mining-trucks\/18093014.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Caterpillar 797<\/a>, 400-ton, ultra-class haul truck\u201d\u00a0could use more than half a million gallons of fuel a year in the process of mining.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.globallithium.net\/whatwedo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Lowry<\/a>, founder of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.globallithium.net\/whatwedo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Global Lithium LLC<\/a> and the host of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.globallithium.net\/podcast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the Global Lithium Podcast<\/a>, agreed with much of Enders\u2019 assessment but claimed the post overestimated the amount of fuel it would take to operate a lithium mine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMuch of the world\u2019s lithium comes from brine operations where no mining is done,\u201d he told Check Your Fact in an email. \u201cOf lithium operations that actually mine the quoted fuel use is a gross exaggeration. There are less than 10 hard rock lithium mines (ex China) in commercial operation and they don\u2019t all use the same equipment,\u201d Lowry explained.<\/p>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/people.mst.edu\/faculty\/kabp3\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dr. Kwame Awuah-Offei<\/a>, a professor of mining and nuclear engineering at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, likewise said the viral Facebook post is misleading.<\/div>\n<p>\u201cSaying lithium mines eliminate entire mountains is a bad generalization,\u201d he told Check Your Fact in an email.\u201dThe amount of diesel a truck consumes is dependent on how much it runs.\u201d Like Enders and Lowry, he noted that much of the world\u2019s lithium is processed in brines that do not require trucks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A post shared on Facebook claims to show images of an oil well and a lithium mine and alleges that lithium mining is significantly worse for the environment than drilling<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":1482756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1473216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1473216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1473216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1473216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1482756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1473216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1473216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1473216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}