The visit of the Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, to Bolivia, where he met with his counterpart, Rogelio Mayta, led to a strategic alliance between the two countries so that their state-owned lithium companies work in a coordinated manner in the exploitation of this mineral.
The objective is to stop selling raw material to treat and industrialize it and thus obtain higher profits.
As mining consultant Héctor Córdova explained to Voice of America, this approach to the Bolivian experience is important because of lithium’s relevance worldwide.
“If we do not react quickly, we risk wasting this opportunity that is presenting itself because let’s not forget that in just one year, the price of lithium carbonate has risen by more than 400% compared to the previous year,” said Cordova.
However, the expert emphasized that the road to industrialization is not an easy one.
“If we want to produce batteries in our country at a competitive price in the international market, we need to think very well about the supply of inputs because if we have to import everything, it makes the cost of production very expensive, and we are aiming again at importing raw materials”.
Chancellor Ebrard announced that electric cars will be manufactured at scale in 2023, between the Bolivian companies Quantum Motors and the Mexican company Potencia Industrial, and lithium batteries will also be manufactured.
Meanwhile, expectations are also rising in Bolivia, especially in the Potosí region, in the south of the country, where the Uyuni salt flat is located, which contains the largest lithium reserves in the world.
In this context, the Potosí Civic Committee called for a dialogue with the government of President Luis Arce on the issue of royalties, as indicated to Voice of America by its president Roxana Graz.
“August 10 is our meeting, and we believe that if there are no favorable answers for the department, we have already defined that we will enter into mobilizations because this request for better royalties for the department corresponds to Potosí,” said Graz.
Bolivia has a reserve of around 21 million certified metric tons of lithium.
With information from VOA