Bolivia has said that it is looking to work with partners in Russia and Germany to produce and sell batteries with its immense lithium deposits.
Along with Argentina and Chile, Bolivia forms part of the “lithium triangle,” and under the leadership of President Evo Morales has pushed for the extraction and use of this valuable resource for the country's development.
Bolivia's state lithium company, Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos, is looking to firm up partnerships with Russian and German companies in the coming days. The Energy Minister, Rafael Alarcon, said during a press conference: “We have received several offers, eight in total, with different characteristics. Today we are focused on several, especially Russia and Germany.”
The predicted investment in factories and production infrastructure is between US$ 750 million and US$ 1 billion, according to authorities at Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos.
Bolivia contains a quarter of the world's total lithium deposits.
Lithium is increasingly a valuable and highly demanded resource due to its heavy use in technology, and is a potential source of wealth for the rapidly developing country. President Morales has emphasized that the resource must be industrialized with the principles of “dignity and sovereignty” in mind, and that Bolivia can extract and sell its own lithium without relying on foreign companies.