[arto]

As for lithium (the third-most abundant element after the Big Bang, at 0.00000001% of nuclei), it so happens I was just reading the James S. A. Corey novel Cibola Burn where it plays a role:

"People used to think gold was worth fightin' over, and that shit gets made by every supernova, which means pretty much every planet around a G2 star will have some. Stars burn through lithium as fast as they make it. All the available ore got made at the big bang, and we're not doin' another one of those. Now that's scarcity, friend."

[hga]

Naw, or at least according to what I've been reading lately we get lithium and a number of other light elements from cosmic ray spallation: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_ray_spallation so it's happening all the time.

[hashmymustache]

Reminded me how crazy it is that we're in a time where we've legitimized the fabled goal of alchemic transmutation - we can turn mercury to gold. Turns out the philosopher's stone was a particle accelerator.

[hga]

Don't forget about the incomplete specification problem:

You wanted non-radioactive gold for your jewlery and dental fillings? Oops, sorry about that....

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_gold)