USA, California:

Lithium May Draw Tesla Motors Gigafactory to Salton Sea (The Desert Sun)

(Courtesy Tesla Motors)

It seems an ideal match — a game-changing lithium-extraction plant at the Salton Sea and Tesla Motors’ Gigafactory, the 10-million-square-foot facility the electric vehicle maker plans to have online by 2017 to turn out the lithium-ion batteries it needs to reach its goal of putting 500,000 electric cars on the road per year by 2020.

And speaking at the Coachella Valley Economic Forecast Conference in Indian Wells on Thursday, Carl Stills, energy manager at the Imperial Irrigation District, hinted that the Northern California company is giving Imperial County a serious look.

“Lithium’s going to be huge,” Stills said. “It’s so much lithium that can come out of this geothermal mining. We just got notified yesterday that Tesla is now back considering Imperial Valley because of the location close to the potential lithium. So they may not leave. They may leave, but it’s now up in the air again. So, they may stay here and they may move down next to the brine.”

Stills was referring to the lithium-extraction technology and pilot plant that Simbol Materials of Pleasanton has developed at the Salton Sea, recycling geothermal brine from EnergySource’s John Featherstone plant in Calpatria.

Read More.....