- Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa)'s (BRK.A, BRK.B) reported project to produce lithium from California geothermal wells, the subject of a weekend story from the Financial Times, raises questions about what technological process the venture could use and whether it would be successful.
- BRK denied FT's report that its BHE Renewables subsidiary had signed an agreement to allow extraction of lithium from its California geothermal wells and was in talks to supply the metal to Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA).
- FT said BRK's venture could produce 90K metric tons/year of lithium, which would surpass annual output from top global producers Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) and SQM.
- "We see a lot of interest in getting North American supply as automakers start to get further into electric vehicles," Eric Besseling, a VP at BHE Renewables, reportedly told FT.
- Industry analysts are skeptical that any BRK lithium project in California's Salton Sea region could succeed where others have failed, and shares of existing lithium producers have moved little on Australia, Canada and U.S. exchanges since the FT report.
- Now read: Weitz Value Fund Q4 2018 Quarterly Commentary - Value Matters
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