Photo exhibition on hidden costs of lithium on display at Ljubljana Castle

The exhibition chronicles the value chain of this rare element, which includes investment and searches in the US, mining in Bolivia, the manufacturing of batteries and cars in China, as well as efforts in Norway, a small country rich in oil, to electrify all of its transport, wrote Ljubljana Castle operator Ljubljanski Grad.

With supply failing to keep up with demand, the mining of lithium is starting to resemble a 21st century version of the gold rush that has serious strategic and social implications.

Chinese, Australian and US corporations are buying lithium mines around the world, impacting local communities, while the mining also has environmental costs.

"This is a story about the role lithium plays in social change and perhaps even in the salvaging of our planet - however it all comes at a high cost," Ljubljanski Grad wrote about the exhibition, which...