Problem
The article "How a Quebec Lithium Mine May Help Make Electric Cars Affordable" NYT September 23, 2022 discusses the steps needed to develop a domestic lithium industry, starting with the mining. One of the first steps a company would need to do is to purchase land for a lithium mine or purchase an existing mine. What are the problems and expenses with each approach? Is purchasing an existing mine necessarily cheaper than incurring the exploration costs to identify a new site for a mine? Where do lithium mines tend to be, and how do their locations affect the costs of starting up the mine and then operating it? What kinds of explicit and implicit costs does this time lag imply?