Listen to Part 1 of this story. Some estimate the lithium-ion battery market will be worth more than $100 billion by 2027. Much of that growth can be attributed to the meteoric rise of electric vehicles, thanks in large part to Tesla. And that makes lithium – specifically lithium carbonate, the industrial chemical made from lithium to make batteries – very valuable. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the average U.S. price was $13,000 per metric ton last year. And there are tons of lithium – millions of tons – in Nevada. “We're developing one of the world's largest lithium deposits,” says Alexi Zawadzki, CEO of Lithium Nevada.