Bolivia’s president says the Andean nation’s whole lithium assets have elevated 2 million tons to a complete of 23 million tons
FILE – The signal reads in Spanish: “Bolivian lithium. Sovereign lithium.” on stage the place Carlos Ramos, president of the Bolivian state-owned firm Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB), attends an settlement signing ceremony with the businesses Uranium One Group, a subsidiary of Russia’s Rosatom and China’s Citic Guoan Group, on the authorities palace in La Paz, Bolivia, June 29, 2023. The full of Bolivia’s confirmed lithium assets has elevated 2 million tons to 23 million tons, the Andean nation’s president stated on July 20. (AP Picture/Juan Karita)
The Related Press
LA PAZ, Bolivia — The full of Bolivia’s confirmed lithium assets has elevated 2 million tons to 23 million tons, the Andean nation’s president stated Thursday.
The brand new estimate additional cements Bolivia’s place because the nation with the world’s greatest identified deposits of lithium, which is in excessive demand to be used in batteries.
“We’re the most important lithium reserve on the earth, and now we have to know learn how to handle it intelligently to use and remodel this useful resource,” President Luis Arce stated on the Coipasa salt flat, round 280 kilometers (175 miles) south of the capital of La Paz.
Bolivia has stepped up its seek for worldwide companions to assist develop its lithium reserves at a time when demand for the metallic is hovering amid the transition to renewable vitality all over the world and the expansion in electrical autos powered by lithium batteries.
The rise within the estimate of Bolivia’s reserves got here after additional geological research within the Coipasa and Pasto Grandes salt flats, Raul Mayta, vice minister of exploration and exploitation of vitality assets, informed the state tv channel, Bolivia TV.
Arce is pushing to spice up Bolivia’s position within the worldwide lithium market after 14 years of little progress that left it lagging behind neighboring Chile and Argentina. The three international locations are dwelling to an space that incorporates a big share of the world’s confirmed reserves of lithium.
Final month, Arce’s authorities signed an settlement with China’s Citic Guoan and Russia’s Uranium One Group to use Bolivia’s lithium deposits. Collectively, they promised to speculate $1.4 billion for the development of two vegetation for the manufacturing and export of fifty,000 tons of lithium yearly beginning in 2025 within the Pastos Grandes salt flats.
An analogous quantity of funding was reported when the federal government signed an settlement in January with Up to date Amperex Expertise of China.
Argentina has the world’s second-largest lithium reserves, at 20 million tons, adopted by the US with 12 million tons and Chile with 11 million tons, in keeping with the U.S. Geological Survey. The world’s prime lithium producer is Australia, adopted by Chile and China in third place, in keeping with the U.S. company.