The Salar de Uyuni (also known as Salar de Tunupa) in Bolivia is the largest salt pan in the world at more than 10.000 square kilometers. The salt crust was formed over 10.000 years ago by the dehydration of the Palaeosees Tauca.
Bolivia is catching up in the international lithium business
SALAR DE UYUNI, Bolivia: Above 3.600 meters above sea level, on the dazzling white plains of the largest salt surface in the world, the inland Bolivia, lithium production is being dramatically increased to meet the growing global demand for the precious electric metal.
Bolivia, one of the poorest countries in South America, rests on one of the largest lithium reserves in the world, in the Salar de Uyuni - or Uyuni Salt Flats - which is able to unlock all advantages in the coming age of the electric car.
But although it is at the top of the South American “lithium triangle” alongside Chile and Argentina, Bolivia did not have the capacity to bring the metal to market on a large industrial scale.
This will change as soon as the Llipi plant goes into operation in the year 2020.
The production site, which is guarded by the Army for its metal value, will have an annual production capacity of 15.000 tonnes of lithium carbonate, said project manager Marco Antonio Condoretty.
The Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB) state-owned company, founded by President Evo Morales' government to utilize lithium in the salt works, wants Bolivia to become the fourth largest producer by 2008.
Morales, a left and a former coca farmer, relies on lithium as an economic engine to lift his country out of poverty.
YLB partnered with German company ACI Systems last year to promote the development of the Uyuni complex.
Part of the plan is to forge strategic partnerships that "bring their technology and their sales opportunities," Condoretty said.
The joint venture will produce electric vehicle batteries in Bolivia for the growing European market.
The Chinese Xinjiang TBEA Group joined YLB in another joint venture in February to extract lithium from Bolivia's two other salt works, Coipasa and Pastos Grandes.
Bolivia said earlier this year that Uyuni alone is likely to have at least 21 million tonnes of lithium, more than twice as many as previously thought.
So far, the Salar de Uyuni has been a major tourist attraction, and environmentalists have expressed concerns that the landscape is irreparably altered by the exploitation of the underlying lithium deposits.
However, Condoretty insisted that lithium extraction be done with "clean technologies" and only affects about 3 percent of the salt surface.
China is the world's largest consumer of lithium, with 63 percent of the market, said Ingred Garces, a professor of engineering at Chilean Antofagasta University.
With his insatiable appetite for lithium, the Asian giant has positioned itself in the heart of the world's most important metal deposits.
Until 2025, China will need 800.000 tons of lithium carbonate per year to meet the growing demand for electric vehicles.
The Chinese Tianqui Lithium Corp. took a 24 percent stake in the Chilean producer SQM last December and found itself in the “lithium triangle”, which owns 80 percent of the world's known deposits.
Worldwide production grew 2018 by 23 percent to over 85.000 tons.
Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos / ISE - September 2019
