Boric announces ambitious plan to extract lithium from Chile

Chilean President, gabriel boricannounced on Thursday the national policy of the lithium of his government that will be based on an alliance for the extraction of the mineral with the private sector, until now the only one that exploited it in the country. The international demand is very high, since it is destined to the elaboration of electric batteries.

Chili has the third largest world reserve of lithium with 9.6 million tons, behind only Argentinawith 19.3 million tons, and bolivianwith 21 million tons, according to the United States Geological Survey. Last year Chile was the second world producer with an estimated 39,000 metric tons, after Australiawith 61,000 tons.

LOOK HERE: Chile: opposition asks Boric to expel undocumented immigrants and criminalize irregular entry

Boric, who spoke through a national chain of communication media, pointed out that the Chilean State will participate in the entire lithium production cycle by virtue of a “virtuous collaboration” public-private, in which “the control will be the state”.

“Any private company, whether foreign or local, that wants to exploit lithium in Chile must associate with the State”, he added.

He added that the State will promote the generation of value-added lithium products, and not just extraction. The challenge for the country is, according to him, to become the main lithium producer in the world.

The president explained that lithium is only extracted from the Salar de atacama, in the north of the country, and which represents more than 30% of the global market. He pointed out that in the South American country there are another 60 salt flats.

Given the idea of ​​creating a National Lithium CompanyBoric indicated that this will not be established expeditiously because the bill to create it requires a qualified quorum, which means that it must be approved by an absolute majority of the deputies and senators in a very fragmented Congress.

MORE INFORMATION: Chile approves the 40-hour work week: how much work is done in the rest of Latin America and in the world?

While the project is being processed, they will be state companies such as the National Copper Corporation the one that will sign the agreements with private parties in the tenders to exploit the mineral deposits.

The Minister of Mining, Marcela Hernandorecently explained before Congress that the Chilean State cannot advance alone in the exploitation of lithium because “technology and knowledge are in private industry”, so it must be done in a public-private partnership.

However, he emphasized thatthe State is the owner of lithium“, what it is “impassable” for the goverment.

Currently, there are two companies that exploit the mineral in the South American country: the American Albemarle and the Chemical and Mining Society, soquimichwhose controller for three decades is Julio Poncea former son-in-law of the dictator Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990). Boric said that his current contracts will be respected, although he did not rule out that the State associates with them.

For the exploitation last year and for the lease of a salt flat with lithium deposits, Soquimich contributed more than 5,000 million dollars to the State, almost double what was generated by the state copper company, while Albemarle did so with 600 million dollars. Dollars.

ALSO SEE: Gabriel Boric: “Organized crime does not appear overnight”

The minister also clarified that private companies that want to take advantage of lithium must do so by direct exploitation and not through evaporation, a system that involves vaporizing two million liters of water for each ton of mineral.

Specialists estimate that the demand for lithium will increase considerably in the next two decades due to the energy transition towards renewable energies and the electric vehicles They use lithium batteries.

Source: Elcomercio

jack

I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.