Bolivia advances on ‘mega lithium project’

The Uyuni salt flats in Bolivia / Image via Wikipedia

This is a story to keep an eye on. With lithium batteries becoming more and more prevalent in our electric car, laptop and cellphone era, Bolivia’s giant reserve of lithium has become a giant geopolitical factor. According to an e-mailed press release I received from the Bolivian mission to the United Nations, a government-run lithium metal industrialization plant is slated to be ready in two years time.

It’s not difficult to imagine a future in which lithium-rich countries (Bolivia is thought to have almost half the world’s lithium) might wield the same power as OPEC nations wield today. Below is the Bolivian government statement in its entirety:

The Salar de Uyuni, the largest lithium reserves in the world, estimated at 5.4 million metric tons, will likely become a “bridge of development for the region, Bolivia and the world” according to the Bolivian Information Agency (ABI).  Last week, President Morales visited the construction site of a pilot treatment plant to process lithium carbonate in Potosi as well as the Salar de Uyuni reserves where currently the Bolivian government is constructing a a lithium metal industrialization center which will enable the government to launch a mega lithium project in two years time.

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