AVZ best Li performer on the ASX, page-17

response to cmbcp

Worlds largest lithium deposit ? Clay stone? not SC6 as is AVZ
Unproven extraction process as per below.

In 2015, the discovery of a massive lithium deposit south of the U.S. border led electric vehicle giant Tesla Inc. to announce a deal with Canadian miner Bacanora Lithium PLC. The automaker agreed to buy an undisclosed amount of lithium chemicals for its Nevada Gigafactory from Bacanora's proposed mine in the state of Sonora in northwest Mexico, creating the potential for a new branch of the North American battery supply chain.

Under the arrangement, the mine had to meet an undisclosed timeline with performance benchmarks. Now, six years later, it is unclear whether Tesla will ever get lithium from its deal with Bacanora.

The mine, also named Sonora, is the 12th-largest lithium project under development in the world based on primary reserves and resources and holds a total in situ value of $22.6 billion, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. But it carries unique risks; Bacanora plans to use an unproven extraction process to remove lithium from clay stone, and the project is in territory controlled by drug cartels and plagued by violence associated with the cross-border drug trade and human trafficking.

Like Canada, Mexico could hypothetically satisfy U.S. demand for lithium. But for now, Tesla's involvement with what is the only lithium mine in Mexico has apparently ended.

The U.S. government has warned citizens to avoid travel in Sonora, which for years has been effectively controlled by the Sinaloa cartel, the gang that was until recently run by infamous Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.

According to the U.S. State Department, the Sonora state is a "key location" for international drug trafficking and human trafficking networks. Mexicans frequently go missing in the state, including Mexican Indigenous persons, a crisis that U.S. and Mexican officials have linked to criminal actors.