Bolivia negotiates lithium agreement with China

The state company Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB) will continue the negotiations with the Chinese company Citic Guoan for the construction of a Direct Lithium Extraction industrial plant in Potosí. 
 
According to the president of YLB, Karla Calderón, the negotiations began this Monday after the feasibility results for the building of the factory were announced.

“After having seen the issue of technical feasibility, we are sitting at negotiation tables with the Citic company; financial, economic, investment and implementation time factors are being analyzed (…),” said Calderón, who assured that the objective is to achieve the greatest benefit, both for the Bolivian State and for the investing company.

“The results (of the studies) have been quite favorable, demonstrating the technical feasibility the availability of brine and the issue of water, which is quite important, and, obviously, the possible location of the plant in this region,” Calderón informed, who also said that the negotiation is carried out in the context of the model that Bolivia calls sovereign, in which the ownership of lithium by the Bolivian people is protected.

Calderón added that, once an agreement has been reached with the Chinese company, the contract will be prepared for submission and corresponding approval by the Plurinational Legislative Assembly (ALP).

The Chinese firm is one of the corporations that participated in the first international call for the selection of direct lithium extraction technology. In June 2023, it signed an agreement with YLB to carry out technical studies for the construction of an industrial lithium carbonate plant, with a capacity of up to 25 thousand tons per year.