News24 | Rosatom signs R8.5bn deal with Bolivia on lithium batteries

Salt recovery pools at the Llipi pilot Plant in the Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia in August 2022. The Uyuni Salt Flats, in the Potosi province, have the largest lithium reserves in the world. (Photo by Gaston Brito Miserocchi/Getty Images)

Bolivia is entering into a partnership with Russia’s Rosatom to exploit its lithium reserves.Their deal is due to see production of 14 000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium per year.Lithium is due to be worth more to Bolivia than natural gas next year.

Bolivia, home to some of the world’s biggest lithium reserves, signed a deal worth some R8.5 billion on Wednesday with Russian state firm Uranium One Group, owned by Rosatom, to produce battery and electric vehicle components.

Under the agreement, Rosatom, will invest in Bolivia over two years to build a pilot lithium plant in the country’s south, said the Bolivian government and Uranium One Group executives.

“This agreement follows the production and sales model we are proposing to every company that wants to work with our lithium. We will be participating in every point of the production chain,” President Luis Arce said at the signing ceremony.

Bolivia’s 23 million metric tonnes of certified lithium reserves have drawn interest from China and Russia, which have allied with the South American country to launch industrial-scale production.

Together with Argentina and Chile, Bolivia makes up the so-called “lithium triangle.”

Uranium One Group was one of seven firms vying for the contract under a tender launched last year by Bolivia’s state-run lithium firm, YLB.

YLB chief executive Karla Calderon said the pilot plant would produce 1 000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium carbonate in its first year, before eventually scaling up to 14 000 tonnes per year.

Bolivia is projecting lithium exports of more than R90 billion next year, outstripping its key natural gas industry, which has been hit hard by declining investment.

Rosatom has a long-standing interest in building nuclear power plants in South Africa.

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