EL CENTRO — The Imperial County Board of Supervisors Tuesday afternoon heard about the importance of a critical mineral and what lithium could mean to the county.

Bari Bean, county deputy CEO of Natural Resources, walked the supervisors through a lengthy presentation about the future of the Lithium Valley.

In Bean’s update she called Lithium Valley a phenomenal opportunity for Imperial County and called it no different than the impacts of gold and silver.

However, she pointed out the profitability has decreased since January of 2023 when the price per metric ton was $70,000 and is now $9,000 per metric ton. The Deputy CEO expects that to change over time.

While there are a lot of places in the world with lithium, Imperial County sets itself apart from the others by using geothermal bri

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