I've done modelling work for mine planning projects when people were deciding where to put a mine. Quite a lot of it.
Lithium has been a trendy commodity for years. If the US doesn't have a lot of active lithium mines - which it does not - it is going to be because of legislative impediments. Probably environmental ones. There aren't a lot of other reasons. It is common for environmental restrictions as the root cause of mines not being started, particularly in lithium from what I gathered.
You're not going to get a citation, this is literally just stuff I happened to know quite well a few years ago.
