The government plans to nationalize lithium deposits, essential for the production of batteries for electric vehicles
Foreign companies are set to be barred from mining lithium in Mexico after President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador ordered the accelerated nationalization of the country’s deposits.
The transfer of lithium reserves to the Mexican Ministry of Energy was ordered last April with the signing of a document at an event in Bacadehuachi in the state of Sonora, which also designated 2,500 square kilometers of the region as a national lithium mining area.
The district, which borders the United States, is home to the largest lithium deposits in the country and was chosen by the president as the location to launch an ambitious program called Plan Sonora. This outlined a strategy to mine the mineral, which is used in the manufacture of smartphones, car batteries and other rechargeable electronic devices.
Last April, Mexican authorities approved a bill to nationalize lithium mining and mining, granting exclusive rights to a state-owned company that had yet to be created. At the time, President Obrador pledged to review contracts with foreign companies exploring potential lithium deposits in the country. The state-owned company called Litio para Mexico, or Lithium for Mexico, was founded in April.
The latest decree orders the Mexican Ministry of Energy “take the necessary measures to carry it out” the nationalization process.
“[Let’s make] the nation is the owner of this strategic mineral”, Obrador said, quoted by Reuters. “What we’re doing now…is nationalizing lithium so it can’t be mined by foreigners from Russia, China or the United States.”
The Mexican government has no experience in lithium mining or commercial production of the metal. Instead, a large number of foreign companies had participated in the exploration of the deposits.
Chinese mining company Ganfeng has developed Mexico’s largest lithium project in a clay deposit in Sonora, owning the rights to three-quarters of the lithium mined at Sonora Lithium.
Last week, the chief executive of the state-owned lithium production company, Pablo Taddei, told Reuters that Mexico was open to partnerships but that the federal government would have a majority stake in any future joint venture.
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