America's Battery-Powered Car Hopes Ride on Lithium. One Producer Paves the Way.

The U.S. is racing to catch up to China in mining and refining the metal - and Piedmont Lithium is at the leading edge of those efforts. Piedmont is betting government support, demand from electric-car makers and a solid supply of raw materials close at hand can make its processing plants profitable. Rich veins Piedmont got its start more than a decade ago, when Mr. Leatherman heard about a boom in lithium prices at a conference in Toronto. "We're going to build a big business here", said Chief Executive Keith Phillips, a former mining banker for firms such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. Piedmont's U.S.-listed shares recently hit $80, up from $11 before the company unveiled the Tesla deal. [Extracted from the article]