Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd. (CATL) has confirmed a US$1.4B investment to develop Bolivia’s vast but largely untouched lithium resources, strengthening a partnership with the Bolivian government that was formed earlier this year.
The deal, between Bolivia’s state-run lithium company, Yacimientos del Litio Bolivianos (YLB), and a Chinese consortium, will see CATL invest over US$1B in the initial stage of the project, in exchange for the right to develop two lithium factories in each of the Uyuni and Coipasa salt flats in the future. Together, the plants have the potential to produce up to 50,000 metric tons of battery-grade lithium per year.
The agreement will unite CATL, the leading global EV battery manufacturer, with Bolivia’s salt flats. The US$1B investment will primarily fund the infrastructure needed for Bolivia to contribute to the global supply of lithium.
CATL does not currently produce any lithium, although it has invested in several Chinese projects.
The iconic Uyuni salt flat is located in southwest Bolivia in the Altiplano region, spanning an area of 10,582km2, and is host to the world’s largest lithium reserve.
According to the US geological survey, Bolivian lithium deposits account for 23.6% of global resources, and lithium found in salt flats accounts for 70% of the world’s total reserves, concentrated to Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile.
Despite such large volumes, Bolivia has no current industrial production or commercially viable reserves of lithium. The country exported 635.5t of lithium carbonate in 2022, according to government statistics, leaving it significantly behind leading producer Australia, which produced 550,000t in the same year.
There are several reasons for this, including the country’s geography, its colonial history, and the comparatively low concentration of its reserves, which require advanced extraction technology to meet the Bolivian government’s environmental protection requirements- technology that Chinese companies are developing.
For example, Chinese companies are developing the Qinghai Lake in northwestern China, which offers an even lower quality of lithium than that of Bolivian salt flats.
The construction of the Uyuni and Coipasa plants is expected to commence before July 2023, according to the country’s energy ministry, with overall investment climbing to approximately US$9.9B during the project’s manufacturing process.
