More than a trillion dollars of a valuable mineral that plays a crucial part in the manufacturing process of Teslas has been found in abundance in a US state.

While its discovery could see the government rake in an estimate $1.5 trillion dollars – which could go a long way considering the figure equates to four percent of the US‘ national debt that of $36 trillion – there is an ethical debate to be had.

There could be as much as 40 million metric tons of lithium, and mining such quantity could have a devastating impact on the local wildlife – where sage-grouse, a species of bird whose population numbers have greatly decreased over the years, currently inhabit.

The lithium, which is often referred to as ‘white gold’ due to its value and appearance, was spotted on the McDermitt Caldera, which runs from the southeastern Oregon to north Nevada.

It is one of Earth’s most precious metals and can be used in a medicinal way to treat people with bipolar disorder, as well as in batteries – and the McDermitt Caldera reserve is so vast it could power roughly 600 million Teslas.

Mining for lithium on the Nevada-side of the McDermitt Caldera is already underway (Getty stock)

So what is a caldera?

Rather than the mountain-shaped volcanoes we typically picture, caldera are characterized by sprawling depressions, although don’t be fooled by their appearance – they can still pack a punch.

Fortunately, the McDermitt Caldera is not currently active, and is so large it is considered a supervolcano – an extinct one that is believed to have formed 16 million years ago.

It is located in the high desert, and there are major concerns over how it could reshape the area – with its importance for electric vehicle batteries cited as one of the biggest reasons that mining should get underway.

A high desert in Oregon, a similar environment to that of the McDermitt Caldera (Getty stock)

Nevada has already signed off on what is expected to become the largest lithium mine in North America on its side of the McDermitt Caldera, but Oregon officials are still deciding whether or not to do the same.

“We need to do this the Oregon way – with full accountability and shared benefits,” said director of economic development in Malheur County Greg Smith explained.

The Oregon Chapter of the Sierra Club has stated that it does not want drilling for the material to harm the fragile habitats in the area, although they do support cleaner energy – which compared to fossil fuels, lithium very much is.

While others believe it would disrupt water sources for communities in the area, Malheur County is hopeful that it could serve as a boom to local economy, with much-needed jobs.

If mining was to go ahead on the Oregon-side of the caldera, it would enrage the indigenous tribes living in the area, with tribal leader in nearby locations having already contested the plans, stating that they hold sacred ceremonies on the land.

Elon Musk has described sex without the intention of having children ‘absurd’.

The world’s richest man has stressed for years that we’re at risk of a ‘population collapse’.

In 2022 he took to Twitter to claim that a population decline is more of a threat to humanity than global warming.

“Population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming,” he posted.

“Mark these words.

“(And I do think global warming is a major risk).”

Now, a clip of Musk sitting down with podcaster Lex Fridman back in 2019 has resurfaced online, and the Tesla CEO – who has acknowledged that he has 13 children with a 14th at the center of a paternity case – made his views clear on the subject of sex.

Musk pictured holding his alleged 13th child, Ashley St Clair’s son, with the pair currently locked in a legal battle over the infant (Supreme Court of the state of New York, County of New York)

“A massive amount of thinking, like truly stupendous amount of thinking, has gone into sex – without purpose, without procreation, which is actually quite a silly action in the absence of procreation,” he told Fridman.

“It’s a bit silly, so why are you doing it? Because it makes the limbic system happy – that’s why.”

“But it’s pretty absurd really,” he continued

“A lot of computation has gone into, ‘how can I do more of that’, with the procreation not even being a factor.”

Taking to the comments on Fridman’s YouTube channel, one user commented: “Elon was inferring that jer*ing off is silly hahah.”

While a second quipped: “This is Elon Musk talking dirty.”

And a third joked: “If solving mathematical problems rendered a climax like that of a sexual orgasm, I’m pretty sure the human species would have a lot more mathematicians!”

More recently, we’ve witnessed private text messages exchanged between Musk and his former partner Ashley St Clair – the woman who claims she’s the mother of the billionaire’s 13th child – which reveals how his mindset works.

The pair are going through a pretty bitter legal battle.

Reportedly, Musk offered $15 million and $100,000 a month in childcare support in exchange for her silence on the birth of their child, but St Clair declined, Wall Street Journal reported.

While speaking to the newspaper, St Clair revealed text exchanges she had with Musk while she was pregnant.

“To reach legion-level before the apocalypse, we will need to use surrogates,” Musk allegedly wrote.

As previously mentioned, Musk has long made his fears about the world’s declining birthrate clear. Back in 2023, the same year he met St Clair, he tweeted: “Population collapse is an existential problem for humanity, not overpopulation!”

Bill Gates slammed Elon Musk over his leading of Donald Trump’s DOGE, but the Twitter owner has since hit back with a blunt five-word response.

After being sworn in for his second term as US president, Donald Trump swiftly appointed Elon Musk as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

During his 90 days in the role, Musk certainly didn’t waste any time with his task to slash the federal workforce to save money, sending an ultimatum email out to employees – with Trump’s government then ending up having to come back with their tail between their legs to rehire 180 people.

The move didn’t go unnoticed by Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, who went on to accuse him of ‘killing the world’s poorest children’ as a result of shrinking dozens of agencies and departments, including foreign aid initiatives like the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Speaking of USAID, Musk said back in February it was a ‘criminal organization’ and it was ‘time for it to die.’

Before Musk came in with his axe, USAID reportedly had around 10,000 staff and was the world’s largest single donor of humanitarian aid – spending $40 million across the world in 2023’s fiscal year.

Yet Musk said: “It became apparent that it’s not an apple with a worm it in. What we have is just a ball of worms. You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing.”

Gates resolved this as a show of ‘the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children’ – noting to the Financial Times the picture ‘is not a pretty one’.

And Gorklon Rust – aka Elon Musk – has since seemingly responded to Gates, taking to Twitter on May 8.

Apparently Gates is a liar, liar, pants on fire according to Musk (Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Netflix)

The post, which is responding to a clip of Gates on CBS Morning making a similar claim, reads: “Gates is a huge liar.”

However, Gates went into more detail in his interview.

He detailed how the cuts DOGE made have led to life-saving medicines and food supplies expiring in warehouses.

Gates explained how this could well lead to countries seeing a surge in diseases such as measles, HIV and polio as a result of not having access to such medicines.

The philanthropist also accused Musk of cancelling grants to aid a hospital in Gaza which prevents women passing HIV on to their newborn babies under a false claim that the US was distributing condoms to Hamas in the region.

He added: “I’d love for him to go in and meet the children that have now been infected with HIV because he cut that money.”

UNILAD has previously reached out to the US government for comment.

Elon Musk has once again caused a stir in Europe after making a controversial ‘Nazi guilt’ comment just days before the anniversary of the liberation of the notorious concentration camp, Auschwitz.

It comes just over a week after the world’s richest man was accused not once, but twice, giving a ‘Nazi salute’ during President Trump’s inauguration on January 20.

The Tesla CEO has also faced criticism from car-maker rivals after throwing his support behind far-right political party Alternative for Germany (AFD), claiming it is the country’s ‘only savior.’

And after his latest remarks, a Polish minister has called for a nation-wide Tesla boycott, claiming ‘no normal Pole’ should be buying the brand.

On Saturday, Musk gave a speech during a virtual campaign for the controversial German party, where he claimed the country ‘focuses too much on past guilt’ which is something that needs to be ‘moved past’.

“Children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents or even their great grandparents,” he said.

Musk appeared virtually at Alternative for Germany’s election campaign (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

His remarks echo the stance held by far-right Germans in an attempt to bury their Erinnerungskultur – or ‘culture of remembrance’.

Musk’s comments came weeks before Germany’s February 23 election and two days before the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, one of the many concentration camps operated by Nazi Germany during World War II.

Some 1.1 million people were murdered at the camp – located in Poland – between 1940 and 1945, the majority of who were Jewish.

Polish Sport and Tourism Minister Sławomir Nitras condemned Musk’s comments and has since called for a Tesla boycott.

Elon Musk was accused of twice making a ‘Nazi salute’ during Donald Trump’s inauguration (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

“No normal Pole should buy a Tesla anymore. There needs to be a serious and tough response to this, including something like a consumer boycott,” Nitras told Polish media on Monday.

Further reprimanding Musk, Nitras said the tech entrepreneur ‘with his billions may not feel the threat,’ but that ‘any ordinary person living in the heart of Europe, who surely remembers what happened 80 years ago, cannot look on indifferently.’

He continued: “This is a hydra that can reappear. Especially on a day like the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, we must remember this and speak out loudly in defence of the truth.”

Sport and Tourism Minister Sławomir Nitras called for a Tesla boycott (Gov.pl/Wikicommons)

Nitras highlighted that the billionaire’s statement ‘says more about Musk than about Germany,’ adding that he hopes ‘Musk’s remarks will lead to the AfD getting a worse result than the polls have predicted.’

“Nobody likes interference in their internal affairs,” he said.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also laid into Musk, describing his comments as ‘ominous, especially just hours before the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.’