The Likely Provider of Lithium for Tesla’s Gigafactory" .....
Being a $33 billion company, TSLA is not likely to depend on junior miners to supply their lithium. They will likely stick with one of the three biggest lithium producers in the world, ALB. In their latest corporate presentation, ALB claims to be the #1 global provider of lithium now ahead of FMC and SQM. Maybe 5 years from now, ALB will have a supply problem and look to acquire lithium junior mining companies. The more likely scenario is that they’ll ramp up production at Silver Peak in anticipation of the increase in demand using a mine they own which is already producing and which is just a 3.5 hour drive from the Tesla “gigafactory”. Maybe they’ll start bringing in lithium from their Chilean operation. One thing we do know for certain is that Tesla won’t be committing any of their capital to lithium junior mining companies, no matter what those flashy PowerPoint presentations say."
https://www.nanalyze.com/2015/08/the-likely-provider-of-lithium-for-teslas-gigafactory/