One Subnautica 2 lithium location is the Great Jaw, the giant clam in the Dolerite Spires that the official wiki lists at -345609, 465921 @ 100m, with Lithium Deposits inside it. The other documented deposit site is the Graveyard Caves, where deposits cover the walls, ceiling and floor beneath the Graveyard. Both need a Sonic Resonator to harvest; the one exception is a single Lithium sitting on a Tailing Table near the Great Jaw. Once you have a sample, a Metal Farm grows two Lithium per cycle.
This guide reflects the official Subnautica 2 Wiki (checked October 17, 2026) and Unknown Worlds patch notes up to Buddy System Hotfix 2, released October 6, 2026. Subnautica 2 is in Early Access, so locations, recipes and balance can change in later updates, and everything here comes from those sources rather than our own playtesting. One more note: lithium also exists in the earlier Subnautica games, so check which game a guide covers; this page is about Subnautica 2 only.
01
Where to find lithium in Subnautica 2 at a glance
The main lithium sources the wiki currently documents, with depths and coordinates exactly as listed:
| Source | Where | Depth or coordinates (as listed) | What you need |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lithium Deposits | Inside the Great Jaw, Dolerite Spires | Great Jaw: -345609, 465921 @ 100m. Biome: 0 - 128 meters | Sonic Resonator |
| Lithium Deposits | Walls, ceiling and floor of the Graveyard Caves | Graveyard: 80-310m (biome page), 0 - 266 meters (Biomes table) | Sonic Resonator, plus the Heat Tolerance adaptation for the heat |
| Single Lithium | On a Tailing Table near the Great Jaw | -348955, 457655, -9507 | Nothing, just pick it up |
| Listed resource, no details | Overgrown Ruins, Karakorum Ruins region | 210 meters (biome page) | Sonic Resonator for the deposits there |
| Metal Farm | Your own base | 1 Lithium sample grows 2 Lithium, listed duration 10:00 | Powered Metal Farm, Sonic Resonator to harvest |
02
Get a Sonic Resonator before you go
The Lithium page is clear that Lithium Deposits need the Sonic Resonator. You build it at the Fabricator from 2 Titanium Ingots, 2 Lead, 1 Wiring Kit and 1 Basic Battery after scanning two fragments, and it needs a battery to run. In practice that means lead comes first; the lead guide covers the early Lead Zone route and where the Resonator fragments are.
The free piece is the exception. The Lithium page lists one Lithium on a Tailing Table near the Great Jaw at -348955, 457655, -9507 and calls it the only Lithium you can get without a Sonic Resonator. The Wrecks page also lists one Lithium, alongside three Basic Batteries, in Spires Wreck 1, immediately northwest of the Great Jaw at -351297, 456805, -8668, a wreck that also has a Tailing Table to scan. The wiki doesn't say outright whether that is the same piece, but the Lithium page counts only one Lithium you can take without the Resonator.
Don't expect the Scanner Station to help here. Lithium is not on the wiki's list of resources the station can filter for, so plan to navigate by the locations below rather than counting on a scan.
03
Lithium inside the Great Jaw
The Dolerite Spires is a rocky, desolate biome in the Coral Gardens, listed at 0 to 128 m deep, with tall spires, some of which pierce the surface. It holds the only Great Jaw currently in the game, an enormous anchored clam listed at -345609, 465921 @ 100m on the southwest edge of the map. The wiki puts it at roughly 62 m tall and about 72 m wide with its shell open, and its databank sums it up as a "critical source of lithium, but dangerous to dive."
The danger is real: the Great Jaw is an ambush predator. Triggering one of the sensory structures in its core makes it close its shell around you and release neurotoxins that can kill you. The wiki's suggested way in is the hole on the west side, squeezing between the fleshy tendrils, and the databank warns you to avoid touching the tendons. The wiki's trivia also notes that it does not activate in Creative mode.
Inside you will find the Lithium Deposits as well as both Portable Oxygen Generator fragments (-345950, 465670 @ 105m and -345489, 466024 @ 105m), which is handy because that generator is built with Lithium. Since the Buddy System update on August 19, 2026, you can no longer build a base inside the Great Jaw. Nearby, Spires Wreck 1 (85 meters deep, just northwest of the clam) has a Processor fragment and the High Capacity Air Tank recipe card, both of which matter for what lithium is used for.
04
Lithium in the Graveyard Caves
The Graveyard, on the eastern side of the Coral Gardens, is a thermally active biome with murky yellow-orange water, and its thermal vents damage you until you adapt to the heat. The Graveyard Caves are extremely hot caves directly below it, and the Lithium page says Lithium Deposits cover their walls, ceiling and floor. One of the wiki's screenshots shows several deposits at an entrance to the caves.
The main entrance is at the Tailings Village, listed at -288452, 451311 with a depth range of 80m-150m. Before you go, get the Heat Tolerance adaptation: the wiki describes it as the third adaptation, says it grants full access to the Graveyard, and notes that you need a Sonic Resonator to obtain it. It still doesn't make you immune if you stay close to a vent for long; the adaptations guide has the details.
Watch the water above the village as well. The Tailings Village page says a Marrowbreach several times larger than usual stalks the open waters above it, and the wiki lists Marrowbreaches as aggressive predators. Depth figures for the biome disagree between pages, with 80-310m on the Graveyard page and 0 - 266 meters in the Biomes table, so use them as a rough guide only.
05
Overgrown Ruins: listed, not detailed
The Overgrown Ruins page includes Lithium in its resource list and says the island's large mineral deposits need the Sonic Resonator. Neither the Lithium page nor the Biomes table mentions Lithium there, so treat this one as unconfirmed until the wiki adds details. It's a mid-game area in the Karakorum Ruins region, reached by crossing a large trench with a Collector Leviathan in it; the map and biomes guide shows how the regions fit together.
06
Farming lithium with a Metal Farm
Lithium is one of the Metal Farm's production recipes. Insert one Lithium as a sample, which is not consumed, and each cycle grows a deposit worth 2 Lithium with a listed duration of 10:00. The farm has to be submerged and powered: it uses 20 units of electricity when placed, pauses when power runs short, and needs the Sonic Resonator to break the finished deposit. Its blueprint comes from scanning farm structures at the Karakorum Metal Farms, and it costs 1 Axum Ingot and 1 Axum Bacterial Culture at the Habitat Builder. The Metal Farm guide walks through the setup.
Do lithium deposits respawn? The Lithium page doesn't say. Elsewhere the wiki treats respawning as the exception: Graveyard Salt nodes and Mineralized Clinkers are both described as respawning unlike most nodes. Assume the Great Jaw and Graveyard deposits are finite, and set one Lithium aside to seed a farm.
07
What lithium is used for
The wiki's crafting list for Lithium currently shows six recipes, three of them for items not yet in regular gameplay:
| Product | Machine | Ingredients | Status on the wiki |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plasteel Ingot | Processor | 2 Titanium, 1 Lithium (2:00) | In the game |
| Portable Oxygen Generator | Habitat Builder | 3 Titanium, 2 Lithium | In the game |
| Lithium (makes 2) | Metal Farm | 1 Lithium sample (10:00) | In the game |
| Current Ring | Habitat Builder | 2 Titanium, 1 Wiring Kit, 1 Lithium | Currently unavailable in regular gameplay |
| Graphene Ingot | Processor | 2 Tar Graphene, 1 Lithium | Currently unavailable in regular gameplay |
| Lithium Grains | Fabricator | 2 Lithium | Currently unavailable in regular gameplay |
Plasteel Ingots lead to two items in the current game. The High Capacity Air Tank combines a Standard Air Tank with one Plasteel Ingot for 120 seconds of oxygen in total, and the Tadpole Scout Ray Chassis takes 2 Plasteel Ingots along with an Advanced Wiring Kit, a Dedicated Core and Strong Acid. The Portable Oxygen Generator makes about 4 units of oxygen every 10 seconds with a battery inserted, though the wiki itself calls it somewhat impractical next to the Air Bladder or the Tadpole.
What about batteries? The PDA line on first pickup says lithium is useful for portable high-yield power sources, and the databank lists batteries among its general uses. Even so, none of the current battery recipes on the wiki contain it: the Basic Battery, Advanced Battery, Power Cell and Entangled Power Cell all use other materials.
08
Quick checklist
- Gather lead and build the Sonic Resonator first; for lithium, Subnautica 2 puts almost everything behind that tool.
- Grab the single Tailing Table Lithium near the Great Jaw if you want a sample early.
- Enter the Great Jaw from the west side and stay clear of the tendons.
- Get Heat Tolerance before the Graveyard Caves, and keep one Lithium for a Metal Farm.
If you are still in your first hours, start with the beginners guide, and see the resources guide for every other material on Proteus.