Elon Musk's recent musings that high lithium prices may force Tesla Inc to make its own supply of the electric vehicle battery metal have fueled hopes by some that the billionaire entrepreneur will instead opt for a buyout of an established mining company.
"Should management be serious about entering the lithium space, we think the most likely route would be an acquisition of an existing lithium company," said Morningstar lithium analyst Seth Goldstein. "If you're going to spend $43 billion and you run Tesla and you understand better than anyone Tesla's future lithium needs, you might want to spend a lot less and buy a lithium company or two," said lithium industry consultant Joe Lowry.Tesla has never operated a mine, but it is building a lithium processing plant in Texas and may need to build a nickel refinery.
Musk asked the mining industry in 2020 to produce more nickel"in an environmentally sensitive way," and Talon has said it has plans to honor that request.