Bolivia is accelerating its efforts to exploit the world’s largest lithium deposits, preparing agreements with new investors to establish processing plants.
Despite low lithium prices and increasing opposition from lawmakers and citizen groups, the Andean nation is moving forward, reported Bloomberg.
The country opened its first industrial-scale plant in late 2023, constructed by a Chinese group.
Last year, Bolivia signed agreements for further investments with Russia’s Uranium One Group and a Chinese consortium. These deals are currently awaiting congressional approval.
Bolivian state lithium mining company YLB president Omar Alarcon said: “With the two new contracts, we plan to reach 49,000t [tonnes] of lithium carbonate annually within three years.”
The $970m (Rbs95.58bn) contract signed with Uranium One in September 2024 includes constructing a plant with a capacity of 14,000 tonnes per annum (tpa)
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Another contract with China’s Catl Brunp and CMOC involves a $1bn (7.27bn yuan) plan to build two lithium plants producing 35,000t annually.
Some civic groups, politicians and researchers argue that these contracts are overly favourable.
Opposition lawmaker Juan Jose Torrez from Potosi alleged a lack of transparency in the approval process and suggested increasing royalties from 3% to 11%.
Recently, citizens marched against the contracts, and NGOs have urged Congress to reject them. Alarcon dismissed these criticisms as politically motivated or misinformed.
Authorities are also negotiating contracts with European and Australian companies, according to Alarcon.
Bolivia’s history of political and social instability, along with its government-controlled approach to natural resources, has discouraged private investment. Furthermore, the recent drop in lithium prices in a saturated market poses additional difficulties.
Currently, Bolivia’s share in the global supply of lithium is very small. While the country has more resources than Chile, they are not yet considered economically viable, the report said.
Deposits in the remote Uyuni salt flat have high magnesium levels, making the lithium less pure as well as costly to produce.
The government is banking on new direct extraction techniques to address purity issues and accelerate production.
Alarcon said that YLB will not begin repaying the investments until the plants are fully operational, minimising financial risk for the state.
