the state Bolivian lithium deposits (YLB) and the Chinese consortium Catl Brunp and Cmoc (CBC) signed this Friday an agreement to install two plants for lithium in salt flats of the Andean country, with an investment of 1,083 million dollars.
The top executive of YLB, Carlos Ramos, and the CBC representative, Qinghua Zhou, signed the agreement, in a public act attended by the Bolivian president, the leftist Luis Arce.
Arce announced that “By the first quarter of 2025, Bolivia should already be exporting lithium batteries, with national raw material”.
In your opinion “There is no time to lose, the country cannot wait any longer, it cannot experiment any more, we have to go at a safe pace to gradually industrialize this extremely valuable natural resource”.
In turn, the Vice Ministry of Communication reported separately that the two plants will be located in the Andean salt flats of Coipasa and Pastos Grandes, where a “technology [de] Direct Extraction of Lithium (EDL), with an investment of US$ 1,083 million”.
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It was not explained in detail what this procedure consists of.
The Salar de Coipasa is located in the department of Oruro (east) in an area of 2,200 square kilometers. The one of Pastos Grandes has 150 km2 in the department of Potosí (southeast).
Ramos, president of YLB, reported last week that the exploration work for lithium reserves in Coipasa and Pastos Grandes was completed and that the quantification phase now remains.
However, he considered that Bolivian reserves are expected to double. Bolivia certified its reserves at 21 million tons in the Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat, in Potosí.
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In addition, the South American country is listed as the world’s leading reserve.
According to data from the private Bolivian Institute of Foreign Trade (IBCE), Bolivia exported a total of 1,019 tons of lithium in 2021, for almost 10 million dollars: 44% to Russia, 40% to China and 16% to the US.
However, according to the IBCE, its sales are far from those of Chile (883 million dollars), China (99 million dollars), the Netherlands (54 million dollars) and South Korea (46 million dollars).
Source: AFP
Source: Gestion
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