Agree Tesla is in prime position to be one of the winners if there is a shortage given how long they have been prioritising battery supply compared to their rivals – as they’re likely to have locked in available supply before their competitors.

From what I’ve read and watched (and I’m no expert) there aren’t that many shortcuts to spinning up new mining production – There’s a ton of regulation and impact assessments and scaling issues that just take time to work through. That said, I’m sure Tesla’s process would be faster than average timelines.

It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

I’m replying here so I don’t derail the main thread…

What follows is speculation, but speculation 100% compatible with what Elon and Drew said on Battery Day, my main assumption is that they were telling the truth and they had something worth discussing.

Key Assumption – Tesla had a lab scale process working before Battery Day, IMO lab scale only requires taking some buckets filled with clay to a lab extracting the lithium and then returning the clay back to site…

When I thought about the process to extract lithium from clay my conclusions was Electrowinning is one possibility.
Essentially using electricity to plate the lithium metal…

Alkali metals can be extracted in this way, and that odiously includes lithium…

This might not be the process Tesla are using, but most of the rest of the post stays the same,

Mining process:-

• Remove signicantly plants to a greenhouse and try to breed additional stock.,
• Scape back topsoil.
• Extract clays with earthmoving equipment and trucks.
• Transport clays to processing plant (on-site)
• Return clay to the same location (approximately)
• Put back top soil and plants.

The mining process described above is “light-touch” and the lithium clays are not high value ecosystems, approvals still need to be granted.

Processing on site.:-

• Dissolve clays in a mixture of salt and water (sea water can possibly be used, but needs to be transported some distance)
• Extract lithium using some process powered by electricity with little or no additional chemicals.
• Extract salt from remaining clay
• Extract water from remaining clay
• Return clay to site.
• Water and salt captured for reuse, no on site emissions.

Processing at Austin:- (if using Electrowinning)

• transport cathodes with plated lithium to Austin.
• Add calthodes to water producing lithium hydroxide and hydrogen.
• Additional purification steps, probably based on boiling points.
• Return cathodes to mine site for reuse.

While this is completely hypothetical and speculative, it shows why I am keen on Electrowinning.
it is a clean “light-touch” process powered by electricity, that doesn’t use additional chemicals, doesn’t have exhaust stacks, and helps ensure a high purity end product.
Processing on site can be powered by on site solar,,,

This might not be the process Tesla is using, but I think they have a process, and they have a target timeline…

The lithium coming from Australia is hard rock, I expect Tesla to just process that at Austin.
That supply and other supplies have to support the ramp until the clay extraction process is working..