Mexico will have a state company to exercise the public monopoly on the exploitation of its lithium, an essential mineral in the manufacture of electric cars, according to a decree issued this Tuesday by the Mexican government. According to the decree, the company “Lithium for Mexico” aims to “explore, exploit” lithium in the national territory “as well as the administration and control of economic value chains.”
The company has “technical, operational and management autonomy,” the decree adds. Present in the north of the country, Mexican lithium was nationalized by a law approved in April in Parliament by the majority of leftist President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
“Many uncertainties”
“We have this resource and we are going to make it available to the automotive industry” in Mexico, the head of state said in August. The president had mentioned in April 150,000 hectares of concessions granted by his predecessor Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018). A Chinese-owned company, Bacanora, claims on its website “ten mining concessions” covering “some 100,000 hectares” in the northern state of Sonora, and mentions a deposit of 8.8 million tons.
“There is still no information on the amount of existing lithium,” the president of the Mexican Mining Chamber (CAMIMEX), Jaime Gutiérrez, had estimated, judging that the reform was not “necessary” and that it generated “a lot of uncertainty.” for investors in the mining sector.
Australia, Chile, Argentina and China are the world’s leading producers of lithium. Australia would have produced 42,000 tons in 2019 according to certain specialized statistics.
Source: BFM TV
