Washington, March 26: The presence of the largest lithium mine in the Tibet Autonomous Region in China, has now made Tibet the No. 1 area in the world in terms of prospective lithium reserves.

According to report in ENN (Environmental News Network), 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.

China has now become 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.

This has been possible because of the fact that lithium for these batteries comes from Tibet.

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. (ANI)