Lithium prices are on an upswing:LulaNord wrote:The US has lithium mines sitting idle because right now the price of lithium is too low.
An increasingly precious metalSQM is part of a global scramble to secure supplies of lithium by the world’s largest battery producers, and by end-users such as carmakers. That has made it the world’s hottest commodity. The price of 99%-pure lithium carbonate imported to China more than doubled in the two months to the end of December, to $13,000 a tonne.
The reason the US doesn't produce more lithium is because we don't have much(we are part of that that tiny cyan sliver market "Other"):
And what we do have is expensive and environmentally destructive to extract:
Tesla Motors' Dirty Little Secret Is a Major ProblemThe extraction of lithium has significant environmental and social impacts, especially due to water pollution and depletion. In addition, toxic chemicals are needed to process lithium. The release of such chemicals through leaching, spills or air emissions can harm communities, ecosystems and food production. Moreover, lithium extraction inevitably harms the soil and also causes air contamination.
You need to differentiate between batteries in electronics and automotive batteries. Most automotive batteries, lithium or otherwise, are recycled.LulaNord wrote:Lithium recycling probably isn't profitable right now for the same reason, though Toxco and Umicore are both working on recycling lithium batteries, more for the other components than the lithium.
Tesla's Closed Loop Battery Recycling Program
NISSAN SETS UP BATTERY RECYCLING PARTNERSHIP