The "white gold rush"

Okay, so something I discovered on my last reporting trip in Nevada is that inside this 16 million-year-old volcanic crater might be the site of America's next gold rush.

>> White gold or the new oil, >> Nevada's new gold. >> White gold. But it's not gold. It's lithium.

>> Lithium is one of the most coveted materials in the world right now. Some call it white gold.

>> One of the key components behind the batteries that power EVs, solar panels, laptops. really the future. And considering the trajectory of lithium

laptops. really the future. And considering the trajectory of lithium prices, you could see why people are saying that this is like the next gold rush. But there is a problem because unlike gold, the earth is actually in no

rush. But there is a problem because unlike gold, the earth is actually in no short supply of lithium. And as quickly as these lithium prices went up, they also seem to be falling down. Yet, a ton of investment has already gone into

developing lithium mines in that volcanic crater in Nevada, including a $2.26 billion loan from the government. That crater in Nevada known as the Mcdermic caldera contains the largest known lithium deposit in the US and it

could potentially be one of the largest in the world. But the US might be a little too late. China does much of the heavy lifting when it comes to processing lithium. So that means even if the US has the raw material, we still

processing lithium. So that means even if the US has the raw material, we still have to send it overseas to turn it into material that we could actually use.

>> So is the scramble to invest more into lithium actually a really costly mistake? or might this mineral be key to securing the US's future in clean energy

mistake? or might this mineral be key to securing the US's future in clean energy and also minimizing its dependence on China? So, the topic lithium has been on my mind ever since we published this story where we learned that there are over 600

mining ghost towns in Nevada. >> Fortunately, there are a lot of places that were once mining towns, became ghost towns, and are now maybe a name on a map.

>> What is a ghost town? I'm not even certain I know the answer to that question. And I had some really interesting conversations with some of

question. And I had some really interesting conversations with some of our interview subjects about modern mining and whether or not ghost towns could be created in the future. We still have very active mind. Of course,

lithium is the big one now. They're looking at Nevada. >> So, I knew I wanted to come back to that reporting because, well, yes, guys, we are reading the comments.

Plus, we learned an interesting fact on that reporting trip, which is that Nevada is the only state producing lithium despite >> every human on this planet uses 27 28

times more mined lithium than they did in the 1990s, >> which is honestly an extraordinary rate of change in consumption. I mean, I don't even drive an EV. I drive a hybrid. But even in this car, there's a lithium ion battery. After China, the US

hybrid. But even in this car, there's a lithium ion battery. After China, the US is the second largest consumer of lithium in the world. Yet, the US produces less than 1% of the global supply of lithium. So, I called up Eric

and Simon who are both professors at the University of Nevada, Reno. They study

the history of mining and geology. Some of you might even recognize Eric from the ghost towns of Nevada story. I really want to get a sense of whether or not it was worth it for the US to be mining its own lithium considering how

high the investment is and how low the prices have fallen.

>> Along with that skyrocketing price were concerns about who controls the supply chain um and where does uh that lithium come from, where does it go? Um and what happens if we really need it and somebody decides that they don't really

want to get it to us? We're looking for lithium everywhere and we we're worried that in the at least in the medium to long term we probably won't have enough lithium to meet the demand that we're we're expecting. >> That has really driven uh the

exploration uh for some of these uh big scale new lithium mines that we're talking about.

>> So yes, that backropass lithium discovery has been critical, but supply is only part of the equation. There's actually a major bottleneck that we haven't yet accounted for. I'll explain a bit more, but first a quick detour and

a little bit more about this metal known as lithium. A quick interruption, but this is important because reporting like this takes a whole team. Video producers

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preview of an episode of our Patreon exclusive series, The Docket. And now,

back to our reporting on America's white gold rush. Prior to the boom in demand for EVs, lithium was used in small quantities for things like bipolar disorder medication, glass, grease. But lithium in its pure form is actually not

that useful. It needs to be mined and refined to be turned into practical

that useful. It needs to be mined and refined to be turned into practical things like lithium ion batteries. And this refinement process is really where that bottleneck takes place. To catch up really quickly, here's a snippet of a

video I worked on previously that explains why that battery refinement process is so much of the holdup. But where China really controls the supply chain are the steps after mining. No matter who mines the minerals, China

refineses a vast majority of them. This is the step where factories grind down raw min materials and extract the desired mineral from it. It's pretty

polluting. That's why you don't see as much refining happening in developed countries. Chinese plants then also manufactured the vast majority of the

countries. Chinese plants then also manufactured the vast majority of the four components of the EV batteries, the cathode, the anode, the electrolyte, and the separator and put them together to make the batteries sell. In fact, one of

the world's top suppliers of lithium, Australia, sends 90% of its exports to China to be refined. Let's take a look again at that graph of lithium prices.

If we zoom into the years of the price booms, it tells us a bit more about why relying on China makes prices really volatile. And it all starts with the pandemic in 2020.

>> Right around the pandemic, there were these sort of twin shocks, right? On one

hand, the foreign policy of the United States got sideways a little bit with uh China and vice versa. >> The global supply chain right now is disrupted.

>> All of this is putting even more pressure on global supply chains.

>> Um and then also there were I think very real demonstrations of of what vulnerability looked like if global trade suddenly ceased. Um, and those two things together, I think, really, uh, opened a lot of eyes as to to thinking

about supply chains and minerals and raw materials. >> The lack of supply from China, plus a boom in EV demands, pushed lithium prices up to $70,000 per ton in 2022.

>> A record year for lithium amid this electric vehicle boom.

>> And then that massive demand meant that a lot of projects that weren't viable before came online really suddenly. um a lot more lithium was produced, >> but this high demand really didn't last long. The increased supplies caused

prices to significantly drop. >> If their lithium price remains low, that means that those lithium mining operations are going to be challenged economically and some of them may actually stop producing lithium as a result.

>> Indeed, CL the world's biggest maker of electric vehicle batteries. It will be uh suspending operations at this mine temporarily for 3 months. But this

really is coming about at a time when know lithium prices are pretty depressed.

>> All this brings us back to Thacker Pass and that crater in Nevada, home to the largest lithium deposit in the United States with the potential to yield 40,000 tons of lithium in its first phase of mining. Despite the plummeting

prices of lithium, China's decades long head start in the battery refinement process and the possibility of diversifying away from lithium EVs in the future. The US has still issued this $2 billion loan to lithium Americas, the

the future. The US has still issued this $2 billion loan to lithium Americas, the Canadian company that is running that lithium mine at Theer Pass. As of 2025, Nevada has the only commercial lithium refinery in all of the US. But

considering that the state of Nevada has had one of the highest unemployment rates, this lithium investment could really change the state's economy. In

fact, even their governor, Joe Lombardo, sees it as a lifeline. >> That's a long-term economic salvation. I'll use the word salvation. Salvation for the state of Nevada.

economic salvation. I'll use the word salvation. Salvation for the state of Nevada.

>> The government expects nearly 2,000 jobs to be created in Nevada through The Pass. And honestly, even we felt it when we were there for our reporting. We

Pass. And honestly, even we felt it when we were there for our reporting. We

stayed in a town known as Winnamaka, Nevada, which is only an hour outside of Backer Pass. And on a Wednesday, it was nearly impossible to find a hotel to

Backer Pass. And on a Wednesday, it was nearly impossible to find a hotel to stay in because of how many people were in town. In the coming months, several hundreds of workforce housing units will be built for workers at the Thacker Pass

lithium mine just a couple of hours north. >> Despite the government's wishes, the prices of lithium may tell a different story. In just two years, from 2022 to 2024, lithium prices fell by over 80%. Plus, we haven't even talked about the

externalities of mining. >> Anytime you've got mining, you've got disturbance. It's a matter of opening up the Earth's crust and getting things out

disturbance. It's a matter of opening up the Earth's crust and getting things out of there. That's always going to be disruptive. It brings jobs. That's a

of there. That's always going to be disruptive. It brings jobs. That's a

plus. But also, there's ecological damage. There's concern about uh harming landscapes that have value to indigenous people. Um, and those are always uh issues that need to be balanced. >> So, the promise of mining riches coupled

with the age-old tale of boomman bus cycles felt eerily similar to those 19th century ghost town stories that we heard about in our initial reporting.

>> You know, there's no easy answers. Do you want to do without your cell phone?

Do you want to do without electric vehicles? Probably not. Could we have something where instead of just being the place where lithium is mined, can we make a whole life cycle, can we mine the lithium, process it into batteries,

recycle those batteries, and bring it all the way around, right? Something

that's a little more sustainable. There's real promise with that with lithium because a lot of people are thinking about that. That's the the fun part about being a historian is I don't have to answer these questions, but raising them, I think it really is important. >> Thanks for sticking around to the end.

As promised, I wanted to give you a sneak peek of our Patreon exclusive series, The Docket, where we break down how major Supreme Court decisions could

reshape American life. The Voting Rights Act is not just a victory for black Americans. In the

words of Martin Luther King Jr., it enriches the lives of all Americans.

>> The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a very big deal. It transformed America, marking the end of the Jim Crow era and effectively banning racial discrimination in elections.

>> When Lynden Johnson came into office, he made black civil rights a priority.

>> It is to give all our people the right to choose their leaders. To deny this right, I think, is to deny democracy itself. >> When Congress passed the Voting Rights Act, I mean, they talked about it as, you know, being this crown jewel, right?

like that they had finally writed a wrong. >> The stunning thing about the Voting Rights Act is just how fast it worked. Um, so on the day it was signed, less than 7% of black eligible voters in the state of Mississippi were registered to

vote. Just 2 years later, that number was 60%. >> But in the past few decades,

vote. Just 2 years later, that number was 60%. >> But in the past few decades, conservative justices on the Supreme Court have taken major steps towards dismantling it.

>> Supreme Court just finished hearing arguments in a major Republican challenge to the Voting Rights Act. This is a case that could gut key provisions that prohibit racial discrimination in redistricting. >> He's talking about the Louisiana versus Cala case. At first glance, it might look like yet another scuffle over who

Cala case. At first glance, it might look like yet another scuffle over who gets their way when it comes to drawing electoral maps. But the truth is, there is a lot at stake here, and you should care about it. Because if the plaintiffs

in this case get their way, the Voting Rights Act could be erased, and America could be transformed again, but this time it would tear down more than half a century of voting rights progress. >> The Supreme Court is now set to decide

not just if Louisiana must keep two majority black districts, but whether the Voting Rights Act can continue protecting minority representation nationwide. So, slap on your I voted stickers and get your notebooks out

nationwide. So, slap on your I voted stickers and get your notebooks out because this video is going to take a trip through history to explain how a shifting Supreme Court got us here and how this case in Louisiana could upend voting rights and political representation for a generation. This is

the Docket, a Patreon exclusive Vox series unpacking the Supreme Court cases that you need to know about.