Top producing countries, US is #8:
http://investingnews.com/daily/resource-investing/energy-inv...
Top producing countries, US is #8:
http://investingnews.com/daily/resource-investing/energy-inv...
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/915913/0000915913160...
* Clayton Valley is ~3.5 hours from Tesla's Gigafactory.
Oceanview Mine (part of the Pala Chief group) in San Diego county California is a commercial lepidolite (micaceous lithium ore) mine. They're shipping out TONS of that nice purple rock every time I'm out there buying it from them.
What extraction methods are you referring to? The Sileach method that Lithium Australia began piloting this year? That still isn't commercially viable.
Although interestingly, US production isn't far from the factory and has an undisclosed volume, not strictly the 8th largest
https://electrek.co/2016/11/01/breakdown-raw-materials-tesla...