Elon Musk tweeted out earlier this afternoon that Tesla might have to get into the business of mining and refining lithium.
Musk replied to a World of Statistics tweet that noted the massive increase lithium has seen over the past ten years.
According to the tweet, lithium costs were $4,450 per tonne in 2012, while in 2022, it is now $78,032.
In fact, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, the cost of lithium has increased by over 480 per cent in the last year alone.
Price of lithium has gone to insane levels! Tesla might actually have to get into the mining & refining directly at scale, unless costs improve.
There is no shortage of the element itself, as lithium is almost everywhere on Earth, but pace of extraction/refinement is slow.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 8, 2022
Musk followed up his tweet with a reply to Twitter user Pranay Pathole, saying Tesla has some cool ideas for sustainable lithium extraction and refinement.
We have some cool ideas for sustainable lithium extraction & refinement
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 8, 2022
This is not the first time Tesla and lithium mining have come up.
In 2020, Tesla secured rights to mine lithium in Nevada after a deal to buy a lithium company fell through. Although, we have yet to see the company move forward with any mining operations in the state.
Lithium is found worldwide and currently is most often mined from Australia. However, Chinese companies have started to invest and buy lithium mining operations worldwide.
For instance, earlier this year, Zijin Mining Group bought Neo Lithium, a Canadian lithium mining company operating in Argentina.
