Bolivia commissions a Russian subsidiary of Rosatom

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The state-owned Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos and the Russian group Uranium One, a subsidiary of the giant Rosatom, signed an agreement for the construction of a pilot plant that will produce lithium carbonate in the rich. deposits in southern Bolivia. With this, there are now two transnational companies that will build industrial complexes, the other being the contemporary Chinese technology Amperex. The agreement took months of negotiation and “lays the foundations for creating a lithium industry between Bolivia and Russia ,” said the representative of the transnational company Yuri Ulyanin. "I am hopeful that we will soon sign contracts to begin construction of the plant," he said.

Before signing a contract, Uranium One Group must Europe Mobile Number List carry out geological, environmental and water availability studies in the Salar de Uyuni for production with “direct lithium extraction technology.” The plant could require an investment of 100 million dollars and will have an initial capacity of 5,000 tons per year until reaching 14,000 tons of carbonate, said the Bolivian Minister of Hydrocarbons and Energy, Franklin Molina. Despite having large reserves of lithium in its vast salaries and while the world debates the possibility of leaving fossil fuels behind to face climate change, Bolivia has fallen behind in the development of this strategic resource compared to Chile and Argentina.



The three countries form the “Lithium Triangle” because they have the largest reserves on the continent. Before signing a contract, Uranium One Group must carry out geological, environmental and water availability studies in the Salar de Uyuni. AP Photo “We are going little by little, but we have to go with a firm and safe step because we cannot make mistakes,” said the Bolivian president, Luis Arce, during the signing of the agreement. The Bolivian State will be a partner and “will participate in the entire productive chain from production to marketing. That is our business model. “We want to have sovereignty in the industrialization of lithium,” stated the president. The Bolivian government project will export up to 50,000 tons of lithium carbonate per year starting.