Bolivia,
one of the poorest countries in South America, is sitting on an
untapped reserve of Lithium Carbonate. This aqueous metal solution is
the primary component in the lithium ion batteries we all use in our
phones, tablets and laptops. However, with the popularity of electric
vehicles on the rise demand for lithium carbonate is ever increasing,
along with the price. Bolivia has the worlds largest known resource
of lithium carbonate beneath the Salar de Uyuni salt flats located
to the southwest. The salt flats, bordered by the Andes mountain
range, are 3,656 meters above sea level in one of the most arid and
inhospitable environments on Earth (Image below). However, beneath the 10,500 km
squared of dried salt crust is an estimated 5.5 million tonnes of
lithium.
I
came across two video reports, one from 2009 and another from 2012
assessing the rather individual way that the Bolivian government is
planning on exploiting the precious resource that they hold (links below). The
master plan being that foreign companies would be allowed to utilise
the lithium resource as long as all battery manufacture would take
place within Bolivia and all profits made would be reinvested into
the country. With this proposal the government hopes to bring an end
to foreign exploitation of resources. However, it would seem that in
the intervening 3 years between the reports Bolivia has made little
progress in completing its goal to create a fully intergraded battery
manufacturing facility without non-domestic investment. The mining
process is relatively simple and environmentally friendly. The top
layer of salt evaporite is removed and a pit is dug into which
lithium in solution gathers. Evaporation of water leaves a
concentrated solution of lithium carbonate behind in the pit which
can then be syphoned off and transported. The problem is that there
is no infrastructure at the Salar de Uyuni. Infrastructure that could
have been funded by foreign investment. In these times of economic
hardship Bolivia hardly has the excess to spend on developing
industrial scale manufacturing and mining at 3,500m above sea level.
However, if the government does not invest or allow investment in its
own future now then in 10 to 20 years when battery technology has
moved on, the proverbial gold rush will be over.
Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannia, USGS, Image curtsy of Landsat
