https://www.miningweekly.com
Energy|Mining
Energy|Mining
energy|mining

Bolivia again delays announcement on lithium mining tie-ups

16th June 2022

By: Reuters

  

Font size: - +

LA PAZ - Bolivia's government on Wednesday declined to name which of six short-listed companies it would select to help mine its untapped lithium riches, with the chief of the country's state-run lithium company saying more than one could be eventually selected.

The government had already postponed a final announcement on its selection last month, amid high hopes the private partners can help jumpstart lithium extraction in Bolivia's sprawling salt flats, home to the world's largest deposits of the white metal.

Despite decades of attempts, Bolivia has yet to achieve any commercial lithium production despite demand for the metal having surged in recent years.

"It could be that there is more than one company that can support this industrialization process. The objective is to move for the industrialization of lithium in a way that could work with more than one company," said Carlos Ramos, head of Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB).

"Investments for the plants will be determined based on each of the technologies" the companies can offer, he added.

The government narrowed down the final selection from eight to six suitors earlier this month, after disqualifying American startup EnergyX and Argentine energy firm Tecpetrol.

However, the landlocked country still faces steep challenges to meet its target of producing lithium-ion batteries locally by 2025.

A Reuters report last month highlighted the technological challenges, social resistance, legal obstacles and political scrambles undermining Bolivia's extractions plans. 

Meanwhile, none of the short-listed firms have exploited lithium at a commercial scale before.

Edited by Reuters

Comments

Showroom

SBS Tanks
SBS Tanks

SBS® Tanks is a leading provider of innovative water security solutions with offices in Southern Africa, East and West Africa, the USA and an...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Schauenburg SmartMine IoT
Schauenburg SmartMine IoT

SmartMine IoT has been developed with the mining industry in mind, to provides our customers with powerful business intelligence and data modelling...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

PGMs and green hydrogen make headlines
PGMs and green hydrogen make headlines
19th April 2024

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.13 0.167s - 108pq - 2rq
1:
1: United States
Subscribe Now
2: United States
2: