Elon Musk says this investment is like a ''license to print money''

Buying Twitter proved to be a difficult task for Elon Musk, so now he is looking for other lucrative investment opportunities.

Obviously, being the richest man in the world makes you look at the world of business and investment from a different point of view than ordinary mortals. But what is the investment that Elon Musk currently recommends?

Elon Musk has been enthusiastic about what could be his new business venture: lithium refining.

At Tesla's quarterly results presentation, CEO Elon Musk even urged his investors to bet on lithium refining.

According to Bloomberg, he justified his stance by stating that investing in lithium would be "a license to print money."

Moreover, Elon Musk assures that it is an investment that "cannot be lost", and that now is the perfect time to invest as more and more car companies go electric.

"I would like to urge entrepreneurs to enter the lithium refining business. Mining is relatively easy. Refining is much more complex," said the businessman. "Lithium refining requires a lot of machinery and is difficult to scale," said Elon Musk.

Photo: Unsplash - Alexander Schimmeck

Elon Musk has predicted that the lithium processing sector will reach "software-like" margins.

Why is there so much profit potential? According to Elon Musk, prices in the lithium sector have risen not because of raw material shortages but because of limited global capacity to supply high-purity lithium carbonate and hydroxide to battery supply chains.

Photo: Unsplash - Kumpan Electric

In fact, the price of lithium carbonate in China has increased by nearly 450% in recent months, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

This situation has also been exacerbated by the fact that China currently accounts for more than half of the world's lithium refining capacity.

Since 2018, Tianqi Lithium Corp controls 46% of lithium production worldwide.

Photo: Tianqi Lithium Corp

Despite Musk's enthusiasm, other investors are cautious. After all, a previous surge in investment in the lithium sector caused prices to fall, and they stayed low until 2020.

As Bloomberg has reported, many suppliers of materials have encountered difficulties, from reduced production to delayed deliveries.

In addition to China, countries like Australia, Chile, Argentina and the United States already look at lithium refining as a sector to exploit in the short and medium term.

Despite the fact that lithium is abundant in nature, the process to refine it is very complex. However, electric cars will rely heavily on this material, which means the idea of investing in this sector could have some merit.

Photo: Unsplash - Dcbel