Most of my readers know that my home state is California. This is also called the “Golden State” mainly because of the Gold Rush of 1849. Ditto the “Golden Gate,” which is the entry into San Francisco Bay. At the south end of this bay is Silicon Valley. Also most electric vehicles circulating in the U.S. come from Fremont’s Tesla Mothership Factory (also at the south end of the bay), and use Lithium-Ion batteries. Thus our distant past was shaped by a golden metal, but our present and future were and will be shaped by the above two silver metals.
The fact that you probably don’t know is that California has huge lithium deposits. However, like our original golden metal, it will be neither easy nor safe to extract. This post is about these deposits, and the extraction process.