While most of the United States fascinated by the story of a Chinese reconnaissance balloon flying over much of the country, a story involving communist China with deeper implications on a continent to the south.
On Jan. 20, Bolivia’s Ministry of Hydrocarbons and Energy announced that it had selected a Chinese consortium led by lithium-ion battery manufacturer, Contemporary Amperex Technology, to invest more than $1 billion in the goal of expanding Bolivian lithium deposits, with the goal of upcoming lithium-ion batteries in the South American country through 2025.
The importance of this to the long-term global economy and the United States cannot be underestimated, not to mention the global commitment to the advancement of “green” energy technologies. According to the U. S. Geological Survey, Bolivia has the largest lithium deposits in the world, estimated at 21 million tons. This constitutes almost a quarter of the known lithium in the world. China will now take care of this. In addition, China already produces more than 75% of all lithium-ion batteries in the world. China will therefore benefit from vertical integration in the form of a global monopoly over this must-have resource. Not only will China get the maximum of the indispensable raw fabrics used to make the batteries needed to make blank energy a reality, but it will also make the maximum of the batteries themselves, which are the key to making this energy viable.
Of course, none of this will happen overnight. Although Bolivian President Luis Arce has set himself the goal of promoting the promotion and export of lithium batteries from Bolivia in the first quarter of 2025, significant internal obstacles will continue to exist in the country. Despite huge untapped reserves, Bolivia is currently an afterthought when it comes to lithium production, at just 543 tonnes consistent with the year. This is in comparison to the existing world leader, Australia, which now produces over 50% of the world’s lithium at a consistent 55,000 tonnes per year. Furthermore, previous attempts in Bolivia to develop the country’s Oruro and Uyuni lithium fields have met with some fairly broad local opposition, opposition that might not easily go away. Bolivia’s mining law and the law for the creation of Bolivian lithium deposits include provisions protecting the government’s right to expand those resources, however previous attempts to expand them have been met with strong anti-mining criticism. moment in the country. Many Bolivians believe that mining can also literally destroy the classic lifestyle of the local population.
Physically speaking, lithium extraction in Bolivia is also complicated, more so than in Australia or other lithium extraction sites. Specifically, lithium located in the “lithium triangle” of South America, which encompasses southern Bolivia, northern Chile and northeastern Argentina, is discovered in salt flats. surrounded by Andean peasant communities. Some of these communities are populated by indigenous people who struggle to maintain their rights vis-à-vis the respective national governments.
The procedure itself is also fraught with environmental disruptions. Lithium is not separate or “pure,” but combines with many other unwanted minerals, such as magnesium and boron. Companies will have to extract the minerals and then separate them. Historically, the extraction procedure began by sucking out the viscous brine found beneath the giant salt flats and letting the sun evaporate the water to leave condensed minerals. However, this procedure is not quick or effective and can take more than a year to complete. Aspirating lithium also requires large amounts of water, which in turn creates complicated and costly storage, contamination and disposal problems for an indispensable human resource (clean water) that is otherwise naturally scarce in the region. interruptions in the extraction and extraction procedure. Secondly, the remaining minerals will have to be separated from unwanted elements, a notoriously complicated procedure that leads to techniques of dubious environmental convenience, if not dangerous contaminants dangerous to members of the classical local population and their crops and animals.
Today, Bolivia is turning to new technologies known as “DLE” or “Direct Lithium Extraction”. It involves adding chemicals to the brine to speed up the extraction process and replace the remaining brine. However, to date, this new generation has only been tested in Arkansas and Argentina, where the effects have (still) been published.
If successful, Bolivia can catapult itself as a major player on the world economic stage, almost overnight. At the same time, local Bolivians hope that the national lithium company, known as “YLB,” will take care of both the environment and try to accumulate lithium for export. To date, this has not been the case. However, if the South American country can succeed with its Chinese partner, there will be more lithium in the world to build the batteries we want for a larger electric power garage to be produced through the so-called “greens. “technologies such as solar, wind and other sustainable technologies. However, at the same time, Bolivia’s lithium deposits will be tightened through the Chinese government, whose long-term plans for this vital detail and its use in batteries remain for the moment very opaque.