The message "keep your hands off our lithium", which Bolivian President Luis Arce sent to the Americans with the statement that Bolivia will not give up the contract with China on the exploitation of large reserves of its lithium, even though Washington demands it, was also echoed in the EU media.
In a sharp response to the statement of American General Laura Richardson, commander of the Southern Wing of the US Army, that China's investments in South America are "acting maliciously" and endangering US security, the Bolivian president pointed out that Chinese investment also has a new quality, as it includes the transfer of technology for direct exploitation from Bolivian salt lakes.
In the reviews of the European media, it is also pointed out that Germany and France, in particular, are very interested in entering into business with Argentina, Chile and Bolivia, which have 60 percent of the world's lithium reserves, with the exploitation of this key metal for the transition to the production of electric vehicles and the abandonment of gasoline and diesel cars. , which the EU would like to achieve by 2035.
The media reports that French President Emmanuel Macron is preparing to visit countries there that are rich in lithium reserves.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has already recently visited Argentina, Chile and Brazil, which is Germany's most important trade partner in the region, since over 1.000 German companies operate there, including Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, which have big plans for the production of lithium-ion electric cars. batteries.
In a speech to the US Congress, General Laura Richardson presented that the Southern Wing of the US Army is "responsible for Latin America and the Caribbean", and after complaining about the lack of Western investment in the area, she made it clear that China is making up for it by investing in key infrastructure and cooperation in the fields of economy, technology, informatics, politics.
Bolivian President Arse advocated close cooperation between Argentina, Chile and Bolivia in the exploitation of lithium and specifically requested that those countries "decide on their own the price that will suit our economies".
The Bloomberg agency reports that Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Brazil are negotiating stronger cooperation in extracting their large reserves of lithium, as well as their own production of lithium batteries and electric cars.
These countries with 60 percent of the world's reserves and Brazil, as well as Argentina, with large car production capacities, are trying to "join the world's lithium battery car production chains."
This would be, according to Bloomberg, some response to the recently adopted American law to crush IRA inflation, but which offered subsidies of 370 billion dollars to domestic and foreign manufacturers who would make electric cars and other "green technology" and renewable energy sources in America without oil, gas and nuclear process.
The big problem, however, is the global shortage of lithium, which is why the price of a metric ton of that metal has reached $8.000 from $60.000 two years ago.
Lithium is extracted from large salt lakes in South America, but this method of production can be a problem for drinking water. Pumping out the brine causes groundwater levels to drop, rivers and wetlands may dry up, and in some regions there may be water shortages for agriculture.
Argentina, Chile and Bolivia therefore carefully conclude contracts and ask investors to protect nature as much as possible.
About 47 percent of the world's demand for lithium in 2022 was met by the exploitation of solid rock in Australian mines, 35 percent was obtained from South American salt lakes, 15 percent from China and just under one percent from Zimbabwe, Portugal and North America.
Bolivia has the largest reserves of 21 million metric tons (one metric ton is 1.000 kilograms) of lithium, Argentina 19 million, Chile 9,8, the USA 9,1, Australia 7,3, China five million tons, while Germany has reserves of 2,7 ,1,3, the Czech Republic 1,2, Serbia XNUMX, and Russia a million metric tons.
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