LITHIUM RUSH: Just as gas-powered autos depend on oil, the world's future fleet of electric cars may well depend on an obscure element now mined only in a handful of places: lithium. Because it is the world's lightest metal and good at holding a charge, lithium in batteries can deliver the energy electric cars need without weighing them down or requiring frequent recharging stops. Present in trace amounts throughout the Earth's oceans and crust, lithium is amazingly versatile. It can run laptop computers, treat bipolar disorder (in powdered form, though scientists don't know exactly how it prevents mood swings) and even give ceramics a brighter glaze. Lithium is mined as an ore in rocks and as a mineral suspended in briny solutions found beneath salt flats. In recent years Chile has developed its lithium rich salt flats to become the world's top producer. With rising demand new deposits will have to be tapped - including an estimate 5.95 million tons beneath a high altitude desert in Bolivia. - Karen E. Lange

There is a chart which is a bit unclear but eyeballing it it appears to show that the following countries' 2008 production levels were:

Australia    7,500 tons

China         4,000 tons

Argentina  3,800 tons

Portugal        600 tons

Canada         600 tons

Zimbabwe     400 tons

Brazil              100 tons