The Uyuni salt flats in Bolivia are a unique place in the world with a white desert landscape, which attracts everyone’s attention and has been the protagonist of international events, such as the Dakar Rally. However, it houses something even greater: a large lithium mine. For this reason, Bolivia is seeking to position itself in the supply chain of the well-known ‘white gold’. A material in high demand within the electric vehicle and energy storage industry. Now, the Bolivian government wants to exploit it through a Russian company.
What happened? Bolivia has granted a Russian company the right to exploit the Salar de Uyuni. The agreement with the Uranium One Group, a Russian state-owned company, provides for the construction of a lithium carbonate production plant in the Salar. This lithium extraction and transformation project becomes one of the most important investments in the industrialization of this material in the Andean country.
What is the goal? The new system will allow the generation of up to 14,000 tons of lithium for batteries per year. In other words, the volume of production would place it as the third largest in the world, on par with China and behind Australia and Chile.
With an approximate reserve of 23 million tons of lithium, Bolivia had not yet been able to exploit and industrialize the area. The new facility will be built in the Salar de Uyuni at an altitude of 3,656 meters and with an area of 10,500 km².
The company. Questions about the fate of lithium and its commercialization remain open due to sanctions against Russia by the West. Although Bolivia, as a sovereign country, could see its sale of this lithium limited in countries that contemplate sanctions against Russia.
However, Russia has been able to respond to these sanctions and establish new businesses. If Bolivia is in charge of marketing, it will be able to avoid sanctions and some countries will accept this lithium if Russian participation is indirect or minimal. These, however, are hypotheses. Until the exploitation of the salt flat begins in the second half of 2025, we will not be able to resolve them.
Lithium carbonate. The agreement establishes that the technology used will be direct extraction (DLE). This method is very different from the conventional one, as it uses materials that absorb lithium in the brine (underground salt water) separating it from other materials, reducing the use of water and chemicals. In this way, 80% is recovered and lithium is not wasted as in the traditional method, which only 12%.
Other lithium mines. Bolivia’s expansion to consolidate its position as a lithium extractor and global producer also targets other deposits such as the Salar de Pastos Grandes and the Salar de Coipasa.
However, lithium is known for its great environmental impact, and as occurred in Chile, there have been conflicts with the indigenous peoples who inhabit the lands of Coipasa.
After multiple studies on the creation of new batteries with elements other than lithium and new ways to approach their recycling, why do we continue to depend on this material? The answer may be that in the short term we must continue to satisfy the growing demand for batteries. So it remains to be evaluated how the need for lithium could be balanced with the adoption of cleaner technologies and the drive towards more efficient recycling.
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