State-owned Bolivian company YLB signed an agreement with Chinese consortium CBC, which was selected through a tender last year, to help develop lithium direct extraction (EDL) technology to boost lithium carbonate production amid growing demand from the global battery market.
With the agreement, Bolivia intends to increase the production of lithium carbonate for batteries to at least 50,000 tons per year through the installation of two industrial complexes with EDL technology, adapted to the characteristics of the Potosí and Oruro salt pans.
The pilot tests will be carried out with brines from the Uyuni and Pastos Grandes salt pans in Potosí and Coipasa in Oruro.
The country aims to produce battery-grade lithium with a purity of 99.5%, President Luis Arce said in a recent statement.
The EDL consists of extracting lithium from brine without the need to use evaporation ponds.
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The federation of gold mining cooperatives in La Paz, Fecoman, is threatening to mobilize if the government does not ask them to socialize the gold production law.
Fecoman and the regional federation of mining cooperatives Ferreco represent 90% of the gold miners, Fecoman President Ramiro Balmaceda said in a video posted on social media.
The bill was passed in the House of Commons’ Planning, Economic Policy and Finance Committee last week, but various sectors such as politicians and gold miners want a more general socialization of its content.