lithium and the gxy forum, page-11

Tricha - have to agree. Nightspore doesn't know what he is on about. This from Mining Magazine - as far back as 1997.

"Hardrock mining of pegmatites has been the traditional source for lithium products, in particular from open-pit mines in North Carolina in the US, Bikita in Zimbabwe, Manitoba, Canada, and in Western Australia. However, the North Carolina spodumene mines are being abandoned in favour of the salars of South America. Cyprus Foote Minerals, for example, closed its spodumene mine in 1986 to concentrate its efforts on brines of the Salar de Atacama in Chile together with its existing brine operation at Silver Peak, Nevada."