Tesla will recycle 100% of its batteries in-house, says the 2020 Impact Report

They bought or leased 10,000 acres of lithium rich clay deposits in Nevada and patented a process for extracting lithium from clay using table salt. The goal of all this is to produce much more lithium more cheaply and bring the price down. I'd liken it to an oil boom instead of a gold rush, but since lithium is infinitely recyclable I would expect it to eventually become a saturated market. Especially if some alternative cheaper material is able to store energy cheaper.

> Lithium might just become worth more than gold in the near future.

No it will not. If it became anywhere even remotely close 100s of lithium projects would be announced.

Lithium is all over the world and it is very common.

> and I could completely see a company like tesla hoarding it

Why would the 'hoard' it? They need to produce an ever increasing amount of vehicles, they need every bit of supply they can get to put it into products.

They are planning to mine it.