Nearly two years after Tesla outlined a plan to dig for lithium, its chief Elon Musk signaled that the electric car giant might start doing so, due to skyrocketing cost of the metal key to battery technology. Lithium has joined the turmoil gripping commodities in the wake of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Even before the war, prices of raw materials rallied with demand surging and supplies choked up due to pandemic-triggered supply chain woes. An index of global lithium prices compiled by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence has surged almost 490 per cent in the past year. China worries about prices of...