Vox

Lithium is being called the new “white gold.” In 2022, the price of this metal soared to nearly $70,000 per metric ton. Fueled by the global rise in electric vehicles and the proliferation of lithium-ion batteries, we now use nearly 28 times more lithium per capita than in the 1990s. After China, the US is the world’s second-largest consumer of lithium, yet it mines less than one percent of the global supply. To rectify this lack of domestic lithium, the US government approved a $2.26 billion loan in October 2025 to Lithium Americas, a Canadian company developing Thacker Pass in northern Nevada, the largest lithium deposit ever discovered in the United States. But this major investment may have come a little too late. In this video, we’ll explore how lithium is fueling the “white gold rush” in Nevada, whether or not the government’s investment in Thacker Pass will pay off, and what the history of mining ghost towns can tell us about the future of this critical mineral. More from Vox: “Why Nevada has so many ghost towns”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg18CwWeMnc “Why China is winning the EV war”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkxMdmipYqM “The white gold rush”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-white-gold-rush/id1346207297?i=1000710906124 “The clean energy transition can’t happen without these minerals”: https://www.vox.com/climate/415038/critical-minerals-supply-chain-lithium-innovation Subscribe to our channel and turn on notifications (🔔) so you don't miss any videos: http://goo.gl/0bsAjO If you enjoy our reporting and want to hear more from Vox journalists, sign up for our Patreon at patreon.com/vox. Each month, our members get access to exclusive videos, livestreams, and chats with our newsroom. Watch our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE Follow Vox on TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@voxdotcom Check out our articles: https://www.vox.com/ Listen to our podcasts: https://www.vox.com/podcasts