July 22, 2023, 5:45 PM
July 22, 2023, 5:45 PM
The Vice Minister of Exploration and Exploitation of Hydrocarbons, Raúl Mayta, reported this Saturday that the State aims to generate income of $9.6 billion in the year 2026. The authority said that this goal was set after the Bolivia will consolidate as the country with the largest lithium resources worldwide.
“As a goal, for example, we have a challenge implemented by 2026 and it is the fact of obtaining 9,600 million dollars in income from the implementation of this Direct Extraction of Lithium (EDL) technology, the construction and start-up of this production through the lithium carbonate plant for industrial-scale production,” Mayta explained in contact with Panamericana, according to a report by the state agency ABI.
Bolivian Lithium Deposits (YLB) signed agreements with two Chinese companies and one Russian, which they committed $2.8 billion of investment, under a sovereign business model.
In January this company signed an agreement with the Chinese consortium CBC (Catl Brunp & Cmoc), to build two industrial complexes with EDL technology.
With the signing of the agreement $1.4 billion was guaranteed for the construction of two factories in the Uyuni and Coipasa salt flats, with a production capacity of up to 50,000 tons (25,000 t each) of lithium carbonate per year.
Then, in June, the agreements were finalized with the Citic Guoan Corporation (belonging to the Citic Group of China) and the company Uranium One Group (belonging to the Rosatom Corporation of Russia), which committed $1.4 billion for the construction of two plants with Direct Lithium Extraction (EDL) technology in Pastos Grandes and Uyuni.
At the same time, the state built the Lithium Carbonate Industrial Plant and is currently in the “final stage of tests” to start industrial production of 15,000 tons per year in the following months.
In the interview with Panamericana, the authority said that the construction of this industry requires an investment of $96.4 million. This complex is located in the Uyuni salt flat in the department of Potosí.
Lithium carbonate is a raw material for the manufacture of batteries and given the growing production of electric vehicles, the demand for it and other lithium derivatives has skyrocketed in the international market.
In addition, YLB together with the Technical University of Oruro and a French company developed a 100% Bolivian technology to exploit lithium, whose Bolivian resources add up to 23 million tons
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