Germany and Bolivia will join forces for the extraction of lithium, as Europe's largest economy moves to secure supplies for battery-powered vehicles, which are believed to be looming over, the German government announced Wednesday.
Chile has called for lithium to be traded on the London Metals Exchange to provide greater “clarity” about its value, mining minister Baldo Prokurica said. At present, lithium producers negotiate contracts with buyers but the terms of the deals are not made public. Critics say this lack of clarity has a chilling effect on potential new investment in the market since the metal’s value cannot be precisely measured.
Bolivia, known to have the largest reserves of lithium, has offered the metal –used in making batteries of electric vehicles, laptops and smart phones– to India. Ambassador to India, Sergio Dario Arispe Barrientos, said Bolivia has the largest deposit of Lithium and India could explore this opportunity.
The age of the electric vehicle (EV) will be here sooner than you think.
A new report by BMI Research states that based on project pipelines, Chile and Argentina will lead lithium production in coming years, with the bulk of new capacity coming online in 2019.
Argentina is disputing with Chile South America’s top producer of the mineral lithium, a key ingredient for the production of electric cars and its rechargeable batteries allowing them to retain energy far longer, and as a consequence its price has soared more than 30% to a record US$ 12.000 a ton this year.
The age of electrification across the transportation sector, the solar panel revolution, and Tesla's battery giga-factory are igniting a battle for the cheapest battery. That will transform lithium into a boom-time mineral and the hottest commodity on the energy investor's radar. It has been easy to take lithium for granted.
By John C.K. Daly - The US currently imports more than 80% of the lithium it uses, with the silvery metal winding up in batteries from cell phones to electric cars.
Chile revoked the concession awarded to Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile to exploit substantial reserves of lithium in the Andes region, acknowledging problems with the tender process.
The world leading lithium producer SQM has won a tender to develop a lithium concession in Chile, which produces around 40% of the metal, used widely in hybrid vehicles and computer and smart-phone batteries, the Mining Ministry said on Monday.