Bolivia set to build large lithium plant in Uyuni
Posted by Reuters News on 30 September 2009, 17:50 PM
communities.thomsonreuters.com
* Bolivia plans to invest up to $400 mln in lithium plant
* Bolivia seeking partners to manufacture lithium products
By Diego Ore
LA PAZ, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Bolivia has decided to invest up to $400 million in a plant to produce lithium carbonate at the vast Uyuni salt lake, believed to be one of the world's largest lithium deposits, its Mining Ministry said.
Bolivia has around 50 percent of the world's lithium deposits, about 5.4 million tonnes, but -- unlike neighboring Chile and Argentina, which also hold vast reserves -- it does not exploit the metal.
Lithium carbonate is the main component of the rechargeable batteries that power laptop computers, cell phones and digital cameras and demand for the metal could soar if carmakers raise production of hybrid cars or start manufacturing electric vehicles on a large scale.
"The industrial plant to produce lithium carbonate ... will be built by the (Bolivian) state, by itself, without partners," the government's mining director, Freddy Beltran, told Reuters on Tuesday evening. He said Bolivia could start producing lithium carbonate on a large scale by 2014.
The Bolivian state plans to invest between $300 million and $400 million in the plant, he said.
The plant will produce up to 30,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate a year, the government has said in the past, which represents around 30 percent of the current global supply.
Beltran, a top official in the Mining Ministry, said the leftist government of President Evo Morales was not looking for partners because it wants "total control over the resource."
Among the companies that have shown an interest in investing in Uyuni are France's Bollore <BOLL.PA>, South Korea's LG <051910.KS>, Japan's Sumitomo <4005.T> and Mitsubishi Corp <8058.T>.
Morales has nationalized energy, mining and telecommunications companies and has long said that the Andean country's natural resources should be controlled by the state and not foreign companies.
His policies to tighten control over the economy are very popular among poor Bolivians, who blame foreign investors for ransacking the country's mineral and energy riches.
Although Uyuni, in the central Potosi region, may hold the largest reserves of lithium in the world, analysts have questioned the quality of the deposit and have said the high degree of magnesium in the brine of the salt lake could make lithium recovery expensive.
In addition, the lake floods every year, which may lower the efficiency of solar evaporation ponds from which lithium is extracted.
The government says some companies have offered "free of charge" to help Bolivia figure out the best way to extract lithium from Uyuni.
Beltran said the government may be looking for partners to manufacture products from lithium carbonate, presumably batteries, adding that Bollore has already made an "oral proposal" to the government.
"We'd like to hear from any company ... Mitsubishi and Sumitomo are interested, but they have not made a formal proposal yet. Regarding Bollore, we have a proposal, but it has been an oral proposal, and we've asked them to present it in written form," he said.
South Korean state-run mining company Kores, which is investing in a copper project in Bolivia, is also interested in tying up with the Bolivian state to "industrialize" the lithium carbonate, said Beltran.
The mining official said that the state could fund part of the cost of the lithium carbonate plant, while "several foreign banks" have offered to help Bolivia finance the project. (Writing by Eduardo Garcia; Editing by Walter Bagley) |
