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Where is all that Lithium coming from? Top producing countries, US is #8: http://investingnews.com/daily/resource-investing/energy-investing/lithium-investing

Where is all that Lithium coming from? Top producing countries, US is #8: http://investingnews.com/daily/resource-investing/energy-investing/lithium-investing/lithium-producing-countries/ http://investingnews.com/daily/resource-investing/energy-inv...

moxious 10y ago
Well, at their scale, the answer would be pretty obvious -- from all of those places probably. Although interestingly, US production isn't far from the factory and has an undisclosed volume, not strictly the 8th largest
theandrewbailey 10y ago
I heard that much of it for this factory is coming from Mexico: http://fortune.com/2015/08/28/tesla-lithium-mine-mexico/ http://fortune.com/2015/08/28/tesla-lithium-mine-mexico/
cptskippy 10y ago
Clayton Valley Nevada has the only commercial Lithium Mines in North America. Clayon Valley's Sliver Peak mine is operated by Albemarle who is one of the top 3 lithium suppliers in the world. Clayton Valley South is operated by Pure Energy. Both are working with Tesla. * Clayton Valley is ~3.5 hours from Tesla's Gigafactory.
- lightedman 10y ago
  "Clayton Valley Nevada has the only commercial Lithium Mines in North America" Oceanview Mine (part of the Pala Chief group) in San Diego county California is a commercial lepidolite (micaceous lithium ore) mine. They're shipping out TONS of that nice purple rock every time I'm out there buying it from them.
  - prefect42 10y ago
    Ah, what pray tell, does one do with all that fancy purple rock?
    - cptskippy 10y ago
      Jewelry.
      - lightedman 10y ago
        Rarely is lepidolite gem-grade. It's much more useful as a lithium ore, as the extraction methods improved as of last year, putting it almost on par with brine extraction.
        cptskippy 10y ago
        Stone, not gems, are frequently used in jewelry. What extraction methods are you referring to? The Sileach method that Lithium Australia began piloting this year? That still isn't commercially viable.
        lightedman 10y ago
        Geothermal extraction. Very viable here in SoCal where a huge chunk of our lithium mines are located, since we've got plenty of geothermal around. See, spodumene and lepidolite make up more than 50% of the world's supply of lithium because those sources produce large amounts rapidly, despite the costs. Having these sources next to geothermal energy sources makes it much more viable to do the 'roasting' at practically zero energy cost.
        cptskippy 10y ago
        Neat! I hadn't heard of that.
        lightedman 10y ago
        Also, there are more methods coming onto market which might make brine and geothermal methods of the past. Leaching, solvent extraction, and electrolysis are methods gaining traction and developing at a fair pace.
  - cptskippy 10y ago
    Extracting lithium from lepidolite is at best twice as expensive as extracting it from brine. Lithium from ore sources is not commercially viable. So while Oceanview might be a commercial mine, it's not a commercial lithium mine.
jklinger410 10y ago
You should email Musk and make sure he is aware of this problem in case he hasn't thought of it yet.
adrum 10y ago
Nickel and Cobalt play big roles in Tesla's batteries as well. https://electrek.co/2016/11/01/breakdown-raw-materials-tesla-batteries-possible-bottleneck/ https://electrek.co/2016/11/01/breakdown-raw-materials-tesla...
eigenvalue 10y ago
Mostly it is coming from salt flats (or "salars") in Chile (as well as Argentina and Bolivia). It can also be produced by refining a mineral called spodumene which can be found in places such as Australia. If you want to read more, you can look at the annual report from Albemarle, the largest lithium producer in the world: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/915913/000091591316000041/a1231201510-kdocument.htm https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/915913/0000915913160...
ajross 10y ago
Lithium is fairly common. The limiting resource for battery production is actually Cobalt.

moxious 10y ago

Well, at their scale, the answer would be pretty obvious -- from all of those places probably. Although interestingly, US production isn't far from the factory and has an undisclosed volume, not strictly the 8th largest

theandrewbailey 10y ago

I heard that much of it for this factory is coming from Mexico: http://fortune.com/2015/08/28/tesla-lithium-mine-mexico/ http://fortune.com/2015/08/28/tesla-lithium-mine-mexico/

cptskippy 10y ago

Clayton Valley Nevada has the only commercial Lithium Mines in North America. Clayon Valley's Sliver Peak mine is operated by Albemarle who is one of the top 3 lithium suppliers in the world. Clayton Valley South is operated by Pure Energy. Both are working with Tesla. * Clayton Valley is ~3.5 hours from Tesla's Gigafactory.

lightedman 10y ago
"Clayton Valley Nevada has the only commercial Lithium Mines in North America" Oceanview Mine (part of the Pala Chief group) in San Diego county California is a commercial lepidolite (micaceous lithium ore) mine. They're shipping out TONS of that nice purple rock every time I'm out there buying it from them.
- prefect42 10y ago
  Ah, what pray tell, does one do with all that fancy purple rock?
  - cptskippy 10y ago
    Jewelry.
    - lightedman 10y ago
      Rarely is lepidolite gem-grade. It's much more useful as a lithium ore, as the extraction methods improved as of last year, putting it almost on par with brine extraction.
      - cptskippy 10y ago
        Stone, not gems, are frequently used in jewelry. What extraction methods are you referring to? The Sileach method that Lithium Australia began piloting this year? That still isn't commercially viable.
        lightedman 10y ago
        Geothermal extraction. Very viable here in SoCal where a huge chunk of our lithium mines are located, since we've got plenty of geothermal around. See, spodumene and lepidolite make up more than 50% of the world's supply of lithium because those sources produce large amounts rapidly, despite the costs. Having these sources next to geothermal energy sources makes it much more viable to do the 'roasting' at practically zero energy cost.
        cptskippy 10y ago
        Neat! I hadn't heard of that.
        lightedman 10y ago
        Also, there are more methods coming onto market which might make brine and geothermal methods of the past. Leaching, solvent extraction, and electrolysis are methods gaining traction and developing at a fair pace.
- cptskippy 10y ago
  Extracting lithium from lepidolite is at best twice as expensive as extracting it from brine. Lithium from ore sources is not commercially viable. So while Oceanview might be a commercial mine, it's not a commercial lithium mine.

jklinger410 10y ago

You should email Musk and make sure he is aware of this problem in case he hasn't thought of it yet.

adrum 10y ago

Nickel and Cobalt play big roles in Tesla's batteries as well. https://electrek.co/2016/11/01/breakdown-raw-materials-tesla-batteries-possible-bottleneck/ https://electrek.co/2016/11/01/breakdown-raw-materials-tesla...

eigenvalue 10y ago

Mostly it is coming from salt flats (or "salars") in Chile (as well as Argentina and Bolivia). It can also be produced by refining a mineral called spodumene which can be found in places such as Australia. If you want to read more, you can look at the annual report from Albemarle, the largest lithium producer in the world: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/915913/000091591316000041/a1231201510-kdocument.htm https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/915913/0000915913160...

ajross 10y ago

Lithium is fairly common. The limiting resource for battery production is actually Cobalt.