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Elon Musk tweeted Tesla might get into the lithium mining and refining enterprise straight and at scale as a result of the price of the metallic, a key part in manufacturing batteries, has gotten so excessive.
“Worth of lithium has gone to insane ranges,” Musk tweeted. “There isn’t any scarcity of the component itself, as lithium is nearly in all places on Earth, however tempo of extraction/refinement is gradual.”
The Tesla and SpaceX tech boss was responding to a tweet displaying the common value of lithium per tonne within the final twenty years, which confirmed a large improve in costs since 2021. In keeping with Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, the price of the metallic has gone up greater than 480% within the final 12 months.
There are certainly deposits of lithium everywhere in the United States, in keeping with the the U.S. Geological Survey, a division of the U.S. Division of Inside.
Lithium is effective in electrical car batteries as a result of it’s each the lightest metallic and the least dense strong component. That implies that batteries made with lithium have a excessive power-to-weight ratio, which is vital when coping with transportation.
Friday’s tweet isn’t the primary time Musk has raised the thought of Tesla mining its personal lithium.
In 2020, Tesla secured its personal rights to mine lithium in Nevada after a deal to purchase a lithium mining firm fell by way of, in keeping with Fortune, which was siting “individuals conversant in the matter.”
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