sits the McDermitt Caldera,

where hidden in the clay,

is the US' largest deposit of lithium.

And 1,700 miles away is the Tamarack Project.

Home to one of the country's only sources

of high-grade nickel.

- This is the highest grade rock

I've ever held in my career.

- [Narrator] The US is now investing billions

to mine these battery minerals

and build up enough domestic supply

to break its reliance on China,

which currently dominates global battery production.

- We can't build a future

that's made in America

if we are ourselves are dependent on China for the materials

that power the products of today and tomorrow.

- [Narrator] Here's how two projects are digging in

despite the challenges,

hoping to change the battery metal supply chain.

Right now, the supply chain for these minerals

spans the globe.

Australia mines 48% of the world's lithium

and Indonesia extracts 50% of global nickel.

Once mined, a majority of both are sent to China,

along with other battery metals for processing.

Much of that material then remains there

to be put into batteries.

Today, China produces more than 85%

of the world's batteries.

- Any nation wants to have control over its source of energy

and control over its raw materials

that go into national defense.

And right now, we're dependent on countries

that potentially could be rivals.

- There we go, it's now law. (crowd cheering)

- [Narrator] 2020s Inflation Reduction Act

seeks to change that,

with billions of dollars in subsidies

meant to bring all of this within US borders,

both for the energy transition and national security.

The law includes a $7,500 tax credit

for people who buy electric vehicles with batteries

containing minerals sourced from these countries,

but not these.

- Battery makers and automakers

are now working hard to comply

and to get more products to qualify.

- [Narrator] They're even taking their money

straight to the source.

In General Motors case, that's this 18,000 acre section

of the McDermitt Caldera called Thacker Pass.

- The ultimate product that comes out of there

is 40,000 tons of lithium carbonate every year.

That's gonna be enough

to put into about a million General Motors Electric Vehicles

every single year.

- [Narrator] The car maker committed $650 million

towards the Thacker Pass project last year,

giving it exclusive rights

to all of the lithium mined here for up to 15 years,

which Lithium Americas will extract using a process

other lithium mines don't,

one the company has been testing for years.

- We're gonna take raw ore

and we're gonna feed it into these pieces of equipment.

- [Narrator] This slurry is separated

then leached with the sulfuric acid,

all part of a process that isolates the lithium

- Through this circuit,

what we're removing is magnesium sulfate,

magnesium sulfate is bath salts.

You could furnish all the spas in the world

with the magnesium sulfate that we're removing

- [Narrator] Until finally.

- And then we end up with a high purity lithium carbonate.

(truck whizzing)

- [Narrator] And up in Tamarack Minnesota.

- If you zoom out, you can see the intrusion.

- [Narrator] Talon Metals has been exploring, recording,

and mapping this polymetallic deposit,

mainly made up of nickel.

- So these are the holes that we drill

with our drill rigs

to understand what's underneath our feet.

And then this is the deposit.

And so what we can do with this

is essentially identify the areas

that are valuable to extract.

- [Narrator] Talon estimates there are

17 million metric tons of nickel mineralization

sitting within the deposit.

- So the deposit is quite special,

it's not the largest in the world by any means,

but it is very high grade.

This piece is around about about 9% nickel.

And when you move this around,

basically anything that flashes

is the nickel mineralization.

1% is considered high grade,

so 9%, we're significantly higher

than what's considered high grade.

- [Narrator] And some of this nickel

already has a big-name buyer.

- [Elon] Any mining companies out there,

please mine more nickel. (laughs)

- [Narrator] Two years after that call,

Tesla committed to purchasing 75,000 metric tons

of Talon's future product,

Enough nickel for an estimated

1.2 million Tesla Model Y EVs.

Taken together, Tamarack's nickel

and Thacker Passes' lithium

would mean billions in savings for Tesla and GM buyers,

but these mines aren't open yet,

and speed bumps are emerging.

- It's been an awful 2024 for Tesla.

- With respect to electric vehicles,

prices are just too high.

- [Narrator] EV sales growth

has nearly stalled out in the US in the past year,

that slowdown has weighed heavily on battery metal prices.

Nickel is down 26% since early 2023.

Lithium is down more than 80%,

making mining projects less economically viable.

- It means that projects are being delayed,

it means that some projects are being sidelined.

- Lithium is by no means a rare resource,

but getting it out of the ground

is what's so challenging,

and we've seen here in the US,

that it's essentially impossible to get a project permitted.

- [Narrator] "Securing the permits needed

to open a mine in the US

can often take up to 10 years,

three times more than other countries,"

according to the National Mining Association,

- [Tim] We've spent more than a decade

getting to where we are today.

- [Brian] The Tamarack deposit was discovered in 2008.

- [Narrator] Mining projects, including Thacker Pass

and Tamarack, have also faced opposition

from environmental and local Native American groups.

Talon Metals even moved

a planned nickel processing facility out of the state.

- Now for some people,

that's not gonna be enough,

but at least we hope that people feel

that we have been listening,

and that we've taken action to do something about it

as we plan the mine.

- [Narrator] Talon hopes to deliver nickel to Tesla in 2028.

Lithium Americas is now fully permitted

and will start production in 2027.

Still, it's going to take more than these initial plans

to create a reliable domestic mineral supply.

- We have found one deposit,

but we're finding mineralization

in these other areas as well.

I can definitely see Tamarack growing in the future.

- Our deposit is within an area

that's the largest in the world,

so expansion opportunities there are quite good.

(gentle music)