Salty water gurgles quietly through a pipe across a dry lakebed and into a Caribbean-blue pond. It's carrying an element that is crucial to the electric car revolution and, suddenly, one of the world's hottest commodities: lithium.
Silver Peak, halfway between Reno and Las Vegas, may not resemble most people's mental image of a mine. But for decades it's been the sole domestic producer of lithium in the United States. Now the small mine is in the process of doubling its output, and facing new rivals, as part of a massive global phenomenon that's reshaping multiple industries.
