“We have also planned this coming week to be able to sign the second contract with a Chinese company, and therefore it would be the second one to be sent to the Plurinational Legislative Assembly (ALP) (…),” Arce said.

He also stated that an agreement signed on September 11th with Russia aims to promote a broad base for the national economy. “We are making investments in mining, in hydrocarbons, and now with these investments that are going to be made in lithium we are expanding our economic base,” he said, and reported that the contract aims to build an industrial plant with EDL technology capable of processing 14 thousand tons per year of battery-grade lithium carbonate.

YLB began signing agreements with the Citic Guoan corporation and the CBC consortium from China and with the Russian company Uranium One Group from 2022 for the location of pilot and industrial plants with EDL technology in the Uyuni and Pastos Grandes salt flats, capable of producing from one thousand to 25 thousand tons of lithium carbonate per year.

The first agreement sent to the ALP was signed in September of this year between Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB) and the Russian company Uranium One Group to produce 14 thousand tons of lithium carbonate annually in the Uyuni salt flat, Potosí, with direct extraction technology (EDL), which unlike the traditional methodology in some cases triples production in less time.

The authorities reiterate that these agreements are signed in the context of the sovereign business model, through which the Bolivian State guarantees absolute control, through YLB, in the construction of the plants, production, marketing and the entire production chain of lithium and other resources.

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