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Abstract The importance of lithium for emerging industrial, aerospace, defense, and most significantly, lithium-ion battery technologies, is leading to a rapid increase in the demand for this critical resource. Although current global production of lithium is confined to historically exploited lithium-bearing pegmatites and closed-basin saline brines, new occurrences of these and several nascent types of lithium deposits are under varying stages of active exploration, development, and construction. This includes lithium resources associated with volcano-sedimentary deposits, continental and geothermal brines, and rare element granites. This paper presents an overview of lithium uses, production trends, the different types of lithium deposits, and their sizes, grades, and global distribution, as well as introducing the 24 papers in these two Special Issues of Economic Geology that review these lithium mineral systems and deposits in detail. These contributions include reviews and overviews of major deposit types, regional assessments of lithium provinces, deposit-specific research, and exploration techniques for finding additional resources. It is our hope that the scientific compilation and new insights presented in these two Special Issues of Economic Geology spur innovative thought and research in lithium deposit genesis and exploration to support the sustainable extraction of this critical element.