If we don’t get the critical rare earth products from China, which are so vital to the manufacture of many critical and strategic manufacturing processes and products, were will we get them?
(AI) The United States produces a very small percentage of global lithium, with less than 1% coming from its one active lithium mine, the Silver Peak mine in Nevada. This mine produces only a small amount of the global supply, around 5,000 tons annually. While the U.S. has substantial lithium reserves, they are not currently being mined at a large scale.
The Salton Sea deposit in California has the potential to supply us for years. But getting that site to full production will probably take a little doing.
It will be interesting to see if China adds lithium, and lithium processing equipment to the restricted list of exports to the US, they dominate the lithium refining industry, including the hardware used in the refining of lithium and get most of the raw ore from Australia.