The Zhitong Finance App learned that stock investors seemed moved by Musk's statement that “the lithium refining business makes money like printing money” and poured into the lithium ore sector, boosting the lithium battery ETF (LIT.US) up 1.64% on Thursday. Among them, ioneer (IONR.US) led the way, with an increase of 6.4%. The company announced a five-year binding agreement to supply Ford Motor Company (F.US) 7,000 tons/year of lithium carbonate from its Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project in Nevada. Other lithium ore stocks such as Lithium Americas (LAC.US), Chile Mining Chemical (SQM.US), and Piedmont Lithium (PLL.US) rose 5.3%, 3.6%, and 3.5%, respectively.

Musk said on Tesla's second-quarter earnings call that lithium supply restrictions have led to price increases, but the reason behind this is not a scarcity of raw materials, but rather because the world's ability to supply ultra-high purity battery-grade lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate to the battery supply chain is limited.

He said, “I would like to once again urge entrepreneurs to enter the lithium refining business. Lithium ore is relatively easy to mine, and refining is much harder.”