Issue Refining ecosystems, sorbent validation and mineral regulation are missing where the new hubs would sit

Summary

The strategic outlook lists the conditions the integrated model requires and finds them absent: refining capacity must be built in new geographies while workforce and supplier ecosystems outside China, Chile and Argentina start from scratch, sorbent chemistry is validated only across a narrow set of brines, and rules for water use, subsurface rights and waste streams are immature where lithium has not been regulated.