Tesla has inked a five-year agreement to secure a significant stock of lithium from Australia as competition for global supplies sends prices of the mineral skyrocketing. Liontown Resources plans to commence production in 2024 at its flagship Kathleen Valley lithium project in Western Australia, where it will supply Tesla with 100,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate in the first year and 150,000 tonnes every year after. That will be enough lithium for nearly half a million electric vehicles in the first year and 700,000 in each following year—a significant portion of the less than one million cars Tesla delivered in 2021. “Tesla is a global leader and innovator in electric vehicles, and having it sign up to become a significant customer is a tremendous achievement, and another huge vote of confidence in the quality of the Kathleen Valley Project,” Liontown Managing Director and CEO Tony Ottaviano said in a statement (pdf). …