Musk's call for greater nickel mining comes even as prices for battery materials wallow around rock bottom. However, traders and analysts say the kinds of volumes Tesla would need are unlikely to make a compelling business case for miners to invest in increased production, nor are they likely to boost prices in the medium term. Tesla currently sources nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) batteries from South Korea's LG Chem Ltd and nickel-cobalt-aluminium (NCA) batteries from Japan's Panasonic Corp. These companies indirectly buy nickel from mining companies in a long auto supply chain. Tesla doesn't disclose which nickel miners are in its supply chain. Given Tesla's focus on sustainability, the company is likely to prefer to buy from miners of higher-grade nickel sulphide, which requires less power to process than laterite ore, said Lachlan Shaw of National Australia Bank.