Ridiculed in the past decade, sedimentary lithium (“clay“) projects are up and coming in this decade. Due to the gigantic dimensions, these “soft-rock“ lithium deposits are considered to be the only viable option for the United States to supply enough feedstock for a domestic lithium-ion battery industry. The federal and state governments have recognized that the Western United States is home to an exceptional high number of large, high-grade and near-surface lithium “clay“ deposits not seen elsewhere in the world. And now they have started to bring this lithium deposit-type into meaningful production – for the first time in the Western World – in a joint effort involving government and end-users, such as car manufacturers, funding mine development projects which showcased compelling economics and simple flowsheets for conventional processing at competitive costs with minimal environmental impact. Lithium-clays to the rescue!