The American electric car industry is wary of China seeking more domestic lithium

Miners are pushing the growth of lithium production in the United States as carmakers in the world's third-largest electric car market are eager to reduce their heavy reliance on Chinese battery components and look for more local sources.

In North Carolina, Nevada and six other states, mining companies are struggling to revive the U.S. lithium industry, once the world's largest, until the 1990s.

Global demand for lightweight materials is expected to quadruple by 2025. Miners believe that US expansion will depend on orders from batteries and automakers who are reluctant to rely too much on China, which is home to most of the world's lithium processing facilities and absorbs most of Australia's top producers. Chief executive Keith Phillips said that in recent months, two major US automakers have approached a small mining company, Piedmont Lithium, which plans to resume lithium mine production in North Carolina. Phillips said in an interview: "They are excited about the supply of lithium outside of China, they refused to disclose the name of the car manufacturer. Mining companies are also pushing lithium projects in Utah, California and Arkansas.

Last year, a mine in Nevada produced only about two tenths of the world's lithium. However, according to the United States Geological Survey(USGS), it has about 13 resources in the world. Higher prices may make mining profitable.

In May, the United States counted lithium out of 35 important minerals, which may have accelerated my approval. "Given its proximity and supply chain diversification opportunities, we would certainly be interested in lithium power in the United States-as long as it is sustainable, environmentally friendly and competitive," said a spokesman for one of the nation's leading carmakers, answering a question via e-mail. The company declined to confirm.

Its chief strategy officer, Eric Norris, said the world's largest producer, Albemarle, is in the early stages of assessing the reopening of its mine, which was closed in North Carolina 25 years ago. At 200 miles (320 km) south of the Tesla battery assembly plant "Gigafactory" in Nevada, USA, Lithium Americas (LAC) is developing nearly 6 million tons of resources, one of the world's five largest lithium mines. LAC has partnered with a project in Argentina to work with SQM, the world's second-largest lithium producer, to develop new extraction technologies for the Nevada deposit, as there is no lithium-clay operation on a global scale. Alexi Zawadzki, president of LAC's North American operations, said that because the size of the deposit "makes the United States into the map," it is worth the effort and effort. US Geological Survey analyst Brian Jaskula said that the US lithium battery market dominant position was overthrown in the mid-1990s, when Chile began extracting oil from sea pools at a lower cost than US hard rock mining, causing them to lose business. Most of the lithium mines found in the United States contain hard rock, geothermal and oilfield brines and clay, which are generally more expensive to mine than South American brine. While price increases have increased development prospects, some deposits will require extraction techniques that have not yet been tested. This, together with capital competition, may hinder the development of the US market. Andrew Miller, an analyst at consulting firm Bench-mark-Mineral-Intelligence, said: "I think it will be completely feasible to see one or two projects put into production in the next four to five years.

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