Too bad we are not mining the lithium here just because doing so is an environmental nightmare. But I’m sure we can buy it forever from the Chinese.
Lithium metal is a surprisingly highly reactive element, much like sodium and potassium. When lithium metal comes into contact with water, it forms lithium hydroxide and hydrogen gas, and a LOT of heat, which then ignites the hydrogen in the presence of oxygen.
One of the reasons it is so hard to extinguish a fire ignited by a lithium battery.
The Chinese will be happy to supply us with Lithium. In the form of completed batteries.
I use to buy hundreds of pounds of tungsten a month for a product I manufactured. It was inexpensive buying from international suppliers (Europe) and even China. After the Tsunami wiped out a bunch of tech manufacturing the Chinese clamped down on the supply and tungsten went insane. And they used their near monopoly of the supply to blackmail anyone who used it. HOWEVER... They would be HAPPY to sell it to you dirt cheap provided you had the complete product made in China, with Chinese labor.
Until crooks start opening up US mining we will always ben at the mercy of China and the crooks in DC that China owns. It is laughable that anyone thinks we will mine a single gram of rare earths and lithium with the corrupt jerks in DC and their environazi foot soldiers.
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