Abstract:
Brazil has continental dimensions, making it a potential world producer of lithium, specifically, because it has two reserves of this element in the country, one in the southeast region and another in the northeast region. In this way, it is necessary to carry out studies to know their economic viability, enabling greater efficiency in the mineral sector of strategic minerals, mainly because lithium has essential properties for the development of the industry in the 21st century. Therefore, this work aims to produce a review of the literature on the processes of extracting lithium from the spodumene mineral. Therefore, the main processes used to obtain lithium, such as leaching, were researched in academic literature. In this process of mineral concentration there are two main ways to obtain the mineral: aqueous leaching and acid leaching. In this way, both were studied and presented, showing the advantages and disadvantages of their use and, especially, pointing out which would be the most appropriate method to be used in the extraction of lithium found in rocks in the Potiguar territory, especially in the Seridó region of the State.