Bolivia Signs Away Its Lithium, a Critical ‘Green’ Tech Metal, to Russia and China

Carlos Ramos Mamani (R), president of Yacimientos Litio Boliviano (YLB), and Xie Yunrong,
AIZAR RALDES/AFP via Getty Images
Christian K. Caruzo

Bolivia’s socialist President Luis Arce signed contracts with both China and Russia on Thursday to hand over control of the country’s two largest lithium deposits.

Bolivia is home to some of the world’s largest known lithium resources.

The contracts, which amount to $1.4 billion, will see state-owned Citic Guoan (of China’s CITIC Group) and Uranium One Group (of Russia’s Rosatom) work alongside the state-owned Bolivian Lithium Deposits (YLB) company to build two lithium carbonate processing plants.

Lithium is an indispensable material for the manufacture of electric vehicle batteries and batteries used in a wide range of devices.

Arce said on Thursday:

Here is the government coming through for the country, we said it in the campaign, we are going to industrialize lithium and here we are keeping our word once again. We are not going to allow political issues to damage the economy of Bolivians. We are going to continue working to give certainty to the Bolivian economy and, therefore, to the population, that here is a government that works and here are the results that we are presenting to Bolivia and the whole world.

“There is much interest on the part of companies to land in our country to generate greater investment, because there is much to be done,” Arce continued. “The foreign companies that have the technology know it and we Bolivians also know that it is time to take advantage of this natural resource for the benefit of Bolivians.”

The $1.4 billion contracts signed on Thursday follow a separate $1.4 billion contract signed this month between Bolivia and Chinese battery company CATL to build two lithium plants in the country’s Uyuni and Oruno salt flats. CATL is considered to be the world’s largest manufacturer of electric car batteries.

The Bolivian government expects to be able to export up to 75,000 tons of lithium by 2025 through the $2.8 billion deals signed between China and Russia this year to build a total of four lithium plants in the country.

According to data from the United States Geological Survey, Bolivia holds the world’s largest share of identified lithium resources at 21 million tons but presently has almost no industrial production or commercially viable reserves. Bolivia’s large resources are followed by Argentina’s 20 million tons and Chile’s 11 million tons.

The three neighboring countries form an area referred to as the “Lithium Triangle,” and collectively, they hold nearly 60 percent of the world’s proven lithium reserves. 

In March, Arce made calls to design a joint lithium policy alongside other Latin American countries while also asserting that his country’s lithium was allegedly “threatened” by an  “international right-wing.”

Arce issued his statements in response to U.S. Southern Command General Laura Jane Richardson, who warned of the continued expansion of China’s influence in Latin American territory at a Congressional hearing held in March.

The Bolivian president’s plans to hand control of his nation’s lithium reserves to China and Russia heavily contrast those of neighboring far-left Chilean President Gabriel Boric, who announced in April that Chile will nationalize its Lithium industry to keep majority control of Chile’s lithium reserves away from China and other countries.

Boric’s nationalization plans also aim to explore options that allow Chile’s upcoming state-owned Lithium company to engage in partnerships with America’s Albemarle and Chinese-owned SQM, both of which currently have contracts to exploit Chile’s lithium until 2043 and 2030, respectively.

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.

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