Redwood Materials, the battery recycling company created by Tesla co-founder J.B. Straubel, has been keeping a big secret: It isn’t really a recycling company.

Already the fourth top producer of lithium worldwide, Argentina's national and local governments are now looking to speed up development.

Industry and Information Technology Minister, Xiao Yaqing, said the government will encourage consolidation.

Chile's SMA environmental regulator in 2016 charged SQM with overdrawing lithium-rich brine from the Salar de Atacama salt flat, prompting the company to develop a $25 million plan to bring its operations back into compliance.

Global mined zinc production will grow at the fastest pace since 2012 in 2021.

The union said in a statement that the latest deal offered nothing beyond two prior proposals that were also rejected.

Lithium prices have jumped to their highest in more than three years.