[WmyEE0UsWAwC2i]

What about taking the ore to sea level and doing the process there. It's downhill.

This is the greatest flaw in markets. It's said that markets compute the right values for trade goods. But it should be qualified to: Value now (or in the short term).

In any specific moment value has certain dispersion due to multiple factors. The uncertainty of value in the future is huge because those factors compound.

My point is that I believe markes only work in the short term. For long term planning (~one huamn lifetime, a civilization life time) markets don't work.

[legutierr]

Markets are a function of the political regimes within which they operate. They depend on the existence of money, freedom of movement, reasonable taxation, and private property—and a certain level of protection from theft and violence—all of which are features a well-functioning state.

Often markets also depend on standardization and regulation that can only be enforced by governments.

If the markets that exist today fail to take into consideration the true societal costs of their operation—if there is no accounting for future costs—that is not a failure of markets in general, but of the current political regime.

[WmyEE0UsWAwC2i]

You make an interesting point but the same problem is now on the hands of the political regime(hopefully a wide segment of society) to decide the value of things.

[CompelTechnic]

The way the lithium brine is extracted from the ground is by pumping water down, allowing the lithium brine to dissolve in the water, and pumping it back to the surface.

[pirate787]

Markets are shaped by the cultural, institutional, and legal frameworks. Markets reflect these values