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 Clayton Valley / Silver Peak site is the only lithium-producing mine in North America, producing about 1% of the global output, i.e., less than 20% of Tesla Gigafactory's ( TSLA) annual requirement. The company plans to double its production at the Silver Peak site during the next five years. 

 But demand is set to explode as much as 1000% by 2030, according to the Energy Information Administration, and possibly even more if more countries continue to adopt policies to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles and renewable energy. And with President Joe Biden's push to manufacture more electric vehicle components in the United States, the focus has turned to how and where the country can collect rare minerals like lithium responsibly. 

"That reactivity in nature makes it hard to come by, so you can find it is in the surrounding mountains here and the clays, but not in very what we consider economic concentrations," he said. "So, what's happening here in this closed basin over tens of thousands of years is Mother Nature, and we do get some rain here, not a lot, gradually bringing it into this valley."