Lithium Supply
Lithium is produced from either brine-based deposits or from hard-rock mineral deposits. The brine production comes mostly from South America and more precisely from Chile, followed by Argentina. Lithium brine is extracted from salt flats and pumped in ponds where it is stored for up to a year. Lithium is then purified into lithium chemicals.
Lithium can also be produced from rock mining and is mostly called spodumene in this form. Almost 100% of all lithium rock mining takes place in Australia. The lithium, or spodumene, needs then to be processed into lithium chemicals, which mostly takes place in China.
Global Lithium Feedstock Production
~220Kt LCE in 2017
Lithium Production & downstream applications

Who really controls the Lithium-ion batteries supply chain?
Source: IHS Markit
Production of:
Lithium
Feedstock
Lithium
Chemical
Battery Cathode
Li-ion
Batteries
Electric
Vehicles*
Chinese Companies locking up Lithium Supply