Bolivia signs agreement with Russian state for US$ 450 million to exploit lithium

Boliviaone of the countries with the largest reserves of lithium in the world, announced this Wednesday an agreement for US$ 450 million with the Russian state-owned Uranium One Group for the exploitation of this key mineral in the transition to clean energies.

The agreement provides for the installation of a pilot plant for the extraction of lithium, the main component for the manufacture of batteries for electric cars, in the salt flats in the south of the country, as announced by the government and company representatives.

The Russian firm, which is part of the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom), will assume the entire investment over the next two years.

“This agreement ratifies the production and marketing model that we propose to all companies that want to work with our lithium. “We participate in all points of the production chain,” the president pointed out Luis Arce during the signing of the agreement.

Bolivia has one of the largest certified lithium reserves in the world, about 23 million tons, and it joined forces with China and Russia to begin exploiting it on an industrial scale.

Together with Chile and Argentina, the country makes up the so-called “lithium triangle”the largest global repository of the so-called ‘White gold’.

Uranium One Group was selected among seven applicants after the call launched by the state company Bolivian Lithium Deposits (YLB) more than a year ago.

As of the agreement signed this Wednesday, the “process lithium carbonate to battery grade (ndlr, intended for that purpose). The pilot plant will produce a thousand tons” the first year, said Karla Calderón, president of YLB, during the same event.

In a second phase “production will scale to 8,000 tons and in a third phase 5,000 more tons will be added”for a total of 14,000 tons per year, he added.

The entire project foresees an investment of US$ 450 million until 2025, according to the Arce government.

Bolivia expects its lithium exports to reach US$5 billion next year, above gas sales, until recently its main resource, but whose industry is going through a deep crisis due to lack of ininvestments in exploration.