The BrineMine project is developing strategies to extract lithium, cesium and gold directly in geothermal power plants.

Oxford researchers say it is possible to extract copper, gold, zinc, silver and lithium from brines trapped in porous rocks at depths of 2 kilometres below dormant volcanoes.

Despite gold's price slump, strong copper and iron ore prices lifted MINING.COM's ranking of the world's 50 most valuable miners to a new record high of $1.35 trillion.

The new methods involve retrieving parts of the battery so they can be reused, which can drastically cut costs and carbon emissions.

The US largest automaker is investing “multi millions” in a lithium project poised to become the country's largest by 2024.