The auto giant already has supply contracts for nickel, lithium and a range of other EV metals from suppliers across the globe. But it needs more, and industry analysts say Tesla may soon realize that building a mine or processing facility from scratch is not as easy as it sounds and the automaker should instead consider a buyout.
Shares of junior miner Lithium Corp jumped more than 30% on April 13 after unsubstantiated reports that it and its Nevada brine deposits had been sold to Tesla, a rumor the company denied. Shares of larger lithium producers, such as Albemarle Corp, reacted little to Musk's tweets. "There's a huge disconnect in this country about metals refining," said Corby Anderson, who teaches metallurgy at the Colorado School of Mines."And yet the public expects the materials to be available to do the things they want."
But it is not clear what Tesla will do with that nickel concentrate, which needs to be smelted into a product known as matte and further refined before it can be used to build battery parts.
I Expect musk to take over chile next..