QAZAQ GREEN. A South Korean geoscience research institute said Tuesday it found a lithium deposit in Kazakhstan last year and plans to push for its development, Yonhap reports.

The deposit was found in a 1.6 kilometer-square area of pegmatites in eastern Kazakhstan, where tantalum was mined in the past, the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) said in an international forum on key minerals in southern Seoul.

KIGAM has studied the area since May last year with a request from the Kazakhstan government, considering tantalum normally comes along with lithium and cesium.

Lithium is one of the most important critical minerals for the electric vehicle industry as it is a fundamental component of batteries.

The area has resources worth 21 trillion won (US$15.7 billion) buried, KIGAM said, citing Kazakhstan data.

Some of the lithium found in the area had a grade up to 5.3 percent, according to an analysis by a Canadian agency, KIGAM added, noting that lithium from a mine in western Australia has a grade of 2.1 percent.

KIGAM plans to apply for a drilling investigation right for the area to start mining lithium next year with a South Korean company.

The details of the company were not disclosed.