RE:Will Warren Buffett Beat Elon Musk…..You never know, it might work ??
But nothing new here, this project was a topic for a while as this link to a 2019 report shows, :
LINK HERE So on the novelty side, we have LAC who plans to extract from clay in Nevada ( if they finally get all the permits) , Bershire Hathaway (Buffet) with geo-thermal direct extraction, Lepidico with lithium from lepidolite , Direct extraction from the sea, from the air, from space ??
I am not saying that any of them will or not succed, but to me, most of them will only be talk.
In Quebec (my backyard) we had Orbite Alumina that convinced the gvt and alot of investors that they would economically extract alumina from red clay. And Nemaska will produce lithium Hydroxyde using a new (faster and more economical) process......maybe ? So far from what I hear they were only producing a bucket full per day in their pilot plant.
Scientist can produce just about any element out of any given pile of dirt.
What is not accounted for are two things : Time (they have alot of that) and volume. Having 1000 gallon per minute of a semi-liquid substance rushing through a process is not the same of watching the precipitation of a mineral in a beaker over a bunsen burner.
But to resume, I do have more confidence in a guy like Buffet (vs Elon) who seems quite down to earth usually.
Here is what describes best this project :
“The technology risk is apparent but the upside should this work and disrupt the lithium industry’s traditional production base and timelines in getting new supply into the EV battery space is too great not to explore,”