The contract must be approved by the Legislative Assembly. President Luis Arce hopes that legislators will show “patriotism” to expedite the approval of the contract that “will benefit the country.”
The state-owned company Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB) signed this Wednesday a joint venture agreement with the Russian company Uranium One Group for the development of the first direct lithium extraction (DLE) and lithium carbonation plant in the Salar de Uyuni.
“It will have a production capacity of 14,000 metric tons, in a scalable manner. We will have an approximate investment of more than 970 million dollars for the region and for the country,” reported YLB president Omar Alarcón at the event, held in Casa Grande del Pueblo.
He said that the technology used by the Russian company does not use aggressive reagents in the production process and ensures maximum recirculation of water flows, thereby promoting the preservation of ecosystems.
Alarcón also explained that the advantage of this technology is the “high recovery of raw material, which is lithium, of more than 80%.” In comparison, evaporation pools barely reach 12%, he added.
Another advantage is that the production process will be accelerated and will not depend on weather conditions.
Since December 2023, the two companies have been planning to sign a contract to build a semi-industrial plant in Uyuni. When President Luis Arce traveled to Russia at the beginning of June this year, he announced that the agreement was “in the making” and it finally materialized this Wednesday.
Larisa Lysova, legal representative of Uranium One Group, said that the agreement will facilitate the industrial development of Bolivia and, in her opinion, will be beneficial for the economic activities of both countries.
Speaking at the event, President Arce highlighted that Bolivia has, in a certified manner, “23 million metric tons of lithium,” which makes it the “world’s largest lithium reserve.” However, he warned that “a lot of time has been lost,” so the exploitation process must be “speeded up.”
In his opinion, before he came to power, lithium was a “poorly structured project, with many deficiencies.” But he believes that YLB can turn the situation around.
"Bolivia has decided to enter, and sovereignly, into the industrialization stage of Bolivian lithium," said the president.
The Minister of Hydrocarbons, Alejandro Gallardo, explained that the production of 14,000 tons will be carried out gradually, over a period of 30 months, which will begin after the approval of the contract in the Legislative Assembly.
In this regard, Arce invoked the "patriotism" of the legislators to make the agreement viable: "This is where we hope that patriotism and the determined participation of all national assembly members will prevail so that its approval can be accelerated and benefit our country. Bolivia has clearly and sovereignly decided to enter the stage of industrialization of Bolivian lithium and that all our natural resources will benefit each and every Bolivian," Arce indicated in his posts on social networks, such as Facebook.
