“This week, Tesla North America and Elon Musk announced that the largest and most advanced lithium refinery in the United States is now operational.

The Tesla Lithium Refinery just outside of Corpus Christi, Texas, is another step toward the U.S. goal of having domestic refined lithium resources to counter China’s market dominance…

The refinery converts spodumene ore directly into battery-grade lithium hydroxide, in a first-of-its-kind process in North America.

Tesla uses a new technology platform that allows a cleaner, simpler, and cheaper process to obtain battery-grade lithium from the raw material, spodumene ore, says Jason Bevan, Site Manager for Tesla’s Gulf Coast Lithium Refinery.

Tesla says it sustainably sources spodumene and brings it to site where it runs it through a series of conveyance systems, takes it through a kiln and a cooler. From there, the material is taken through an alkaline leech and additional purification steps, and then into crystallization to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide.”

From Yahoo Finance.