President of Bolivia advocates for a joint lithium policy for Latin America

Bolivian President Luis Arcesaid on Thursday that he would be willing to design a lithium policy together with other Latin American countries to benefit their economies and protect the lucrative resource of US interventionism.

It is estimated that Bolivia has 21 million tons of untapped lithium resources, the largest amount in the world, which are found in an area of ​​extensive salt flats that delimit the so-called “lithium triangle”which also extends through northern Chile and Argentina.

“Giving weight in the market in a sovereign way, with prices that benefit our economies, must be something that unites us. And one of the ways, already proposed by the president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (of Mexico), is to think of a kind of OPEC of lithium”, Arce said.

“We do not want our lithium to be in the eyes of any Southern Command, nor be the reason for destabilization of democratically elected governments or external harassment”he added.

His comments come 15 days after US Southern Command General Laura Richardson told a congressional hearing that China was exploiting the region’s resources and that its actions could hamper conditions for private investment. “They do not invest, they extract”Richardson said.

The world’s largest lithium producer is the US miner Albermarle, which operates in northern Chile. American companies like Livent Corp are also set to supply Argentine lithium to BMW.

The second largest producer, Chile’s SQM, was in the hands of approximately 24% of China’s Tianqi Lithium Corp by the end of 2021. Chinese battery giant CATL and Ganfeng Lithium <002460. SZ> they have also increased their presence in Latin America.

Demand for lithium, used in rechargeable batteries for cars and electronics, pushed prices for the metal to more than $85,000 a ton late last year.

“The objective is clear”Arce said. “Position our countries (bolivian, Chili, Argentina and Peru) as potential drivers of new forms of energy storage that allow us to overcome the use of fossil fuels”he concluded.

Source: Reuters