Lithium miners are bulking up for a booming future when electric cars go mainstream. But speed bumps loom, with prices tumbling on a burst of new production and demand growth slowing in China.

Mining for lithium for electric vehicles is having an irreversible impact on the Atacama desert in Chile.

The country holding the world’s largest reserves of lithium says it is one step closer to becoming a manufacturing hub for rechargeable batteries used in electric vehicles.

Albemarle Corp., the world’s largest lithium producer, is planning to expand production in Australia, chasing the market for a form of the metal increasingly being used by the makers of electric car batteries.