Note when the article made the comparison, it seemingly sourced the comparative figure independently, not the scientists. So the scientists may be in good faith describing ‘incremental cost to take presumed existing battery material and recover lithium from it’ and article trying it’s best but not thinking things through presents "number that would implicitly include processing, but also cost of acquiring the raw material as well’. So no one may be trying to ‘hide’ something, but still the comparison is somewhat flawed.

Just seeing how even if everything is being honestly presented, we may still be in a position where mined lithium is still cheaper than recycled even as all the figures suggest that shouldn’t be the case at face value.