Lithium is found in trace amounts in many places, but it is being produced commercially mainly by two methods. One is through mining and processing, a relatively expensive method that produces the metal mostly for glass, ceramics and the manufacturing of television tubes.

The more economical and significant method is through evaporation of lithium-containing brines, mostly in salt flats in the highland areas in South America and western China. Lithium reservoirs have been formed over millions of years in highland bowls, after rivers and hot springs washed over lithium-laden rocks and leached the mineral from them. Producers drill wells into the salt flats and pump the brine into evaporation ponds. With the removal of water, the lithium content in the brine increases to a level where it can be collected and shipped to a chemical plant for processing.

The industry leader in this method of production is Sociedad Química y Minera, a Chilean fertilizer company in which the Potash Corporation, a Canadian fertilizer giant, holds a major stake. The other important producers in Latin America include FMC Corporation and Chemetall, a subsidiary of Rockwood Holdings, which also operates a small brine reserve in Nevada.

Image Lithium in the Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia. Shaky Bolivian politics have caused companies to invest in mines elsewhere. Credit... Noah Friedman-Rudovsky/Bloomberg News

Recycling of lithium from used batteries could become an important source, in which case “the demand for virgin material would be reduced,” said R. Keith Evans, a geologist who serves as a consultant to lithium producers. Up to 50 percent of the lithium in used batteries may be recycled in the future.

But Mr. Evans added, “The big question is the timing of demand. Are you going to build a plant before a market has developed?”

By the standards of traditional gold and copper booms, the increase in interest in lithium is still muted among big mining companies. Supplies of lithium are plentiful for now, and the price of lithium chemicals actually declined at the end of last year because of the economic slowdown. The price for lithium carbonate, the basic lithium compound used in batteries, had been around $5,000 a ton for the last five years or so, and has leveled at about $4,000 since October.