I started this thread on India, but it may be better to add America and the other, EU...since Nigel Ferguson mentioned them
As for America, has anyone considered how small this project is by Rio? It’s basically a joke @ 5,000T? Is this a cover for something bigger. The article suggests it could be biggest in USA but nothing on deposit size, to warrant that claim?
remember Nigel mentioned Lithium oxide, enigmatically? I can’t be sure of course until I find Rio’s process in detail, but this link on their borate Tailings suggest a high purity product could be easily achievable. Solar technology also being investigated.
https://www.mining.com/rio-tinto-kicks-off-10m-pilot-hoping-to-become-the-us-largest-lithium-miner/
Rio has an outfit called Rio Ventures and they are looking for metals impacting on EVs.
This idea of selling to Rio is not so odd, if you consider Keliber is seeking a 3rd party supply, I think this will be a theme in coming years while raw materials like lithia are in shorter supply
https://www.theassay.com/african-edition-content/introducing-rio-tinto-ventures/This could be just a story
