SILVER PEAK, NV — On the edge of Western Nevada, hours from a major city and miles down private dirt roads, lies the United States' only lithium-producing plant...The scale of Silver Peak is hard to grasp from picturs. It spans 13,000 acres...Salty brine that contains lithium is pumped from between 300 and 2,000 feet underground to the surface. Then, over the course of 18 to 24 months, solar evaporation concentrates the lithium.