In the sluggish areas around Lake Salton, companies are beginning to extract lithium. Increasingly valuable metals, whose supply is concentrated in some global pockets, are essential for rechargeable batteries that are expected to cleanly power future cars and homes on contaminated planets. Lithium hydroxide is worth more than $ 25,000 per ton, a price increase of more than 250% from last year, giving hope to return to California’s poorest regions.