Bolivia proposes to Chile, Argentina and Peru to generate a sovereign lithium policy

The president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, proposed this Thursday to Argentina, Chile, and Peru to work together on a sovereign policy for lithium, which favors the four countries, which is not in the eyes of any southern command or that is a reason for destabilization.

“We have to jointly design a policy that ensures the position of our countries as suppliers of lithium in sovereign conditions that favor the four countries,” he emphasized.

The initiative was unveiled at a public event on the Day of the Sea, commemorated every March 23 in Bolivia.

“We do not want our lithium to be in the eyes of any Southern Command (of the United States) or to be a reason for destabilization of governments,” he said.

Arce expressed these words in a clear allusion to the head of the U.S. Southern Command, Laura Richardson, who recently referred to South America, where the lithium triangle is located, as her country’s “backyard”.

According to the Bolivian president, it is essential to operate in the international market of white metal with freedom and without impositions, with prices that benefit the economies.

He pointed out that one of the ways to influence the market is like the initiative proposed by the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, which is to think of an “OPEC of lithium”.

He considers that intervening in the international market with prices that benefit the lithium-producing nations “must be something that unites us”.

The objective is to position Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, and Peru as potential promoters of new forms of energy storage to replace fossil fuels, and he added that minerals such as lithium are the way to do this.

Bolivia has implemented the sovereign investment model, which is contrary to the privatization model.

It does not sell or concession Bolivian salt flats since ownership, production, the market, taxes, and royalties are under the absolute control of the State.

In this context, the state-owned Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB) will be present in the entire production chain, from extraction to industrialization and product commercialization.

According to the Government, with the quantification of the concluded studies of the Coipasa and Pastos Grandes salt flats in Bolivia, the proven lithium reserves are expected to increase by more than the 21 million tons currently certified.