Washington, March 26: China’s interest in Tibet might be more than political, with the hold over the region likely to do more with economics, taking into consideration the region’s wealth of natural resources, particularly in terms of prospective lithium reserves.

According to report by the Green Energy News, for the most part, lithium is extracted from brine lakes. But Chabyer salt lake, in the Tibet Autonomous Region, at an elevation of 14,400 feet (4,400 meters) is the largest lithium mine in China.

In fact, the availability of lithium in the Tibet Autonomous Region has helped China in becoming the largest producer and consumer of lithium-ion batteries.

The average annual production capacity of mainland China has reached 19 billion pieces, making itself a super manufacturer of the battery chemistry.

A lot of high-end technology is reliant on lithium nowadays.

Laptop computers, a wide array of personal electronic devices like iPods, and increasingly power tools are coming equipped with lithium batteries as large as laptop batteries.

Eventually, electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid vehicles, are nearly all being developed with lithium for clean energy storage in mind.

Apart from vast reserves of lithium, Tibet is also rich in other natural resources, which includes: chromium iron deposits, prospective oil and gas reserves, more than 100 sites with geothermal energy possibilities, annual wind energy reserves, and, 23 million heads of livestock, annually producing 9,000 tons of wool, 1,400 tons of cashmere, and 4 million pieces of cowhide and sheepskin. (ANI)