Free Republic

Chile’s President Gabriel Boric said on Thursday he would nationalize the country’s lithium industry, the world’s second largest producer of the metal essential in electric vehicle batteries, to boost its economy and protect its environment. The shock move in the country with the world’s largest lithium reserves would in time transfer control of Chile’s vast lithium operations from industry giants SQM and Albemarle to a separate state-owned company. It poses a fresh challenge to electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers scrambling to secure battery materials, as more countries look to protect their natural resources. Mexico nationalized its lithium deposits last year, and...

PHOENIX — Any way you look at it, Superior is a town down on its luck. Since the mines closed in the 1980s, most of the community's businesses have folded and more than half of its residents have moved away. But in the struggling community that has seen its share of booms and busts, another boom could be on the horizon. At the old Magma Mine's Shaft No. 9, east of town, geologists are swooning over ore samples taken from more than 7,000 feet below the surface. They show a huge deposit of high-grade copper ore that geologists believe could...