来源：“特斯拉北美”社交媒体账号①Tesla's large Lithium refinery located in Texas officially commenced operation, just a year and a half after breaking ground; ②The plant uses a non-acidic lithium refining process, does not use hazardous reagents, and the by-products can be used for producing Building Materials; ③Tesla has become the only Auto Manufacturer in North America that refines lithium on its own, and Musk has repeatedly called for increased investment in lithium processing.
According to Caixin News on December 16 (Editor Zhao Hao), last week, Tesla's large lithium refinery located in Texas, USA officially commenced operation, just a year and a half after breaking ground.
On Sunday (December 15), "Tesla North America" posted on Social Media X, saying, "This week, we are sending raw materials into the kiln of the lithium refinery located in the suburbs of Corpus Christi, Texas for the first time!"
Source: "Tesla North America" Social Media account.
This means that Tesla officially becomes the only Auto Manufacturer in North America that refines lithium on its own. The post included a group photo of all employees of the lithium plant, emphasizing that "enhancing lithium refining capacity is crucial for a sustainable Energy economy."
According to the latest released photo, behind the factory employees are two large bags of white raw materials tied with red ribbons, and also in the photo is a Tesla Cybercab, which is the self-driving taxi officially launched by the company in October.
It is understood that this lithium refinery is located in Robstown, a town west of the Corpus Christi area, the birthplace of poker, and is situated south of Tesla's Austin Gigafactory, approximately a three-hour drive away.
In May last year, Tesla announced on its official website that the lithium refinery had broken ground and revealed that the company would invest over $1 billion into the plant. After reaching mass production, the plant is expected to produce approximately 50GWh of battery-grade lithium annually.
The press release at that time stated, "This investment is crucial to accelerating the world's transition to sustainable Energy and represents our efforts to actively increase North American Battery-grade Lithium supply."
The statement also mentioned that the plant uses a "non-acid Lithium refining process" — this process does not require hazardous reagents and does not produce dangerous by-products.
Tesla stated that refining Lithium through this process only produces a mixture of sand and limestone, and this by-product can be used to produce Building Materials. "We expect this plant to also process Other intermediate Lithium raw materials in the future, including recycled batteries and waste."
According to data from the USA Geological Survey in 2023, the USA's Lithium resource reserves reach 14 million tons, ranking third in the world, only behind Bolivia (23 million tons) and Argentina (22 million tons), but refining capacity is relatively limited.
In this regard, Musk has called for increased investment in Lithium mines more than once. He stated, "I want to urge entrepreneurs to enter the Lithium refining Business again. You cannot lose money; it's like a license to print money."
However, unstable Lithium prices have kept USA companies on the sidelines. Earlier this year, the world's largest Lithium producer, Albemarle, suspended plans to build a $1.3 billion Lithium refining plant in South Carolina. Due to sluggish Lithium prices, the company lost $1.1 billion in the third quarter.
Adam Megginson, a senior Analyst at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence focused on Energy transition intelligence, stated that at the current price levels, new entrants have lost the motivation to enter this Metal market.
