• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Lithium Nationalism Is Taking Root in Region With Most Resources

Lithium Nationalism Is Taking Root in Region With Most Resources

Lithium Mine
Lithium ore falls from a chute onto a stockpile at Bald Hill Lithium and Tantalum Mine outside of Widgiemooltha, Australia. Photo: Bloomberg.
July 9, 2021
Bloomberg

Politicians in Latin America, a region that accounts for more than half the world’s lithium resources, are looking to increase the role of the state in an industry that’s crucial for weaning the world off fossil fuels.

In Argentina, state energy companies are entering the lithium business as authorities make a bid to develop downstream industries. In Chile, a leading presidential candidate wants to do something similar just as the nation drafts a new constitution that may lead to tougher rules for miners. In Mexico, the government is studying the possibility of nationalizing lithium prospects.

To be sure, no one in power is talking about expropriating assets in production and much of the anti-investor rhetoric in Chile is coming from opposition groups. Still, by exacerbating inequalities and exposing supply-chain vulnerabilities, the pandemic is stoking resource nationalism that could lead to less favorable conditions for producers just as they expand in a nascent lithium-ion battery boom.

“Country and resource reliability is something that auto and battery companies look at,” said BTG Pactual analyst Cesar Perez-Novoa. “So it is a risk.”

Lithium Mammoths

Argentina’s state-run oil driller YPF SA confirmed this month that it will explore for lithium and get involved in the bid for battery production through a new unit — a similar strategy as it used to diversify into renewable energy.

Another state energy company, Ieasa, whose role President Alberto Fernandez is reinvigorating after the previous government sought to privatize many of its assets, has said it will incorporate lithium into its business strategy, without elaborating.

Lithium-producing countries have had little success adding value to their raw-material industries given their distance from demand centers and sometimes adverse business environment. In the case of Bolivia, requirements to invest downstream have been one of the barriers to getting lithium out of the ground in the first place.

Argentina is banking on close ties with China, its lender of last resort, to open the door to the dream of local battery and electric-vehicle plants. Argentine officials have been in talks with Gotion High-Tech Co. and Ganfeng Lithium Co.

Adding fuel to the fire in Argentina is a bill drafted last year by lawmakers from ruling party Frente de Todos that looks to declare lithium a “strategic resource.” Still, the bill isn’t currently being considered, a party spokeswoman said.

In Chile, the top lithium supplier after Australia, a process to rewrite the constitution is expected to include a debate over how to capture more of the sector’s profits, stricter licensing requirements and the classification of water as a national asset for public use.

It’s unclear whether a new constitution could shake up property rights given the state is already the owner of minerals, said Renato Garin, a professor at the University of Chile’s law school, who was elected to the convention drafting the charter. The shift will likely lie instead in environmental rules as concerns grow about the impact of lithium mining in the Atacama salt flats.

“What the new constitution will push is a leap away from mining capitalism to encourage more investment in technology,” Garin, an independent left-leaning member of the assembly, said in an interview. “How to produce without destroying.”

The strongest comments have come from Mexico, where the government is studying state control of assets. Mexico doesn’t produce lithium yet and, according to BTG Pactual analysts, the rhetoric is unlikely to turn into action. But it still stokes uncertainty.

Bolivia is also trying to move forward with a state approach to developing its vast deposits. After rolling out a series of pilots over the past decade — including giant evaporation ponds to replicate the brine extraction method used in Chile and Argentina — the land-locked nation is turning to new technologies.

Bolivia has called for bids to test direct lithium extraction techniques, or DLE, with the winners scheduled to be announced in the coming weeks just as the state lithium company and its partners wrap up work on prototype processing and battery plants. Still, Bolivia’s DLE and downstream experiments hold no guarantees for a significant increase in production anytime soon.

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Global Supply Chain Management Global Trade & Economics Automotive Chemicals & Energy High-Tech/Electronics
  • Related Articles

    Upstart European Lithium is Valued at $970 Million in Deal for U.S. Listing

    In Chilean Desert, Global Thirst for Lithium Is Fueling a 'Water War'

    In Planet’s Fastest-Warming Region, Jobs Come With Thaw

Bloomberg

Germany to Introduce Cheap Nationwide Public Transport From May

More from this author

Wake up to live
“Supply Chains in Crisis”
updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • A PERSON HOLDS UP A TABLET COMPUTER IN A WAREHOUSE, SUPER-IMPOSED BY A GRAPHIC SHOWING A COMPLEX WEB OF SUPPLY CHAIN ELEMENTS

    Three Post-Pandemic Actions for Repairing Global Supply Chains

    Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
  • A MAN IN A SUIT SHAKES HANDS WITH A WOMAN IN A HARD HAT, NEXT TO A STACK OF CONTAINERS

    Three Procurement Technology Evolutions for 2023

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
  • The blank stare of a child's eye who is standing behind what appears to be a wooden frame

    The Alarming Continued Rise of Modern Slavery in Supply Chains: How Procurement Can Help Reverse the Trend

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
  • A GROUP OF WORKERS RANGED IN AN OFFICE, OF DIVERSE RACE, GENDER, AGE AND PHYSICAL ABILITY

    Podcast | The Supply Chain Workforce of the Future Is Already Here

    HR & Labor Management
  • A YELLOW AND BLACK TRAFFIC SIGN THAT READS "VOLATILITY AHEAD"

    Four Strategies for Addressing Supply Chain Disruption

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM

Digital Edition

Scb nov 2022 sm

2022 Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • New Revenue for Cloud-Based TMS that Embeds Orderful’s Modern EDI Platform

  • Convenience Store Client Maximizes Profit and Improves Customer Service

  • A Digitally Native Footwear Brand Finds Rapid Fulfillment

  • Expanding Apparel Brand Scales Seamlessly with E-Commerce Technology

  • How a Global LSP Scaled its Security Program and Won More Business

Visit Our Sponsors

Orderful Yang Ming Alithya
Barcoding Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics
CoEnterprise Data Capture Deposco
E2open GAINSystems Generix
Geodis GEP GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated IFM
Infor Inmar Keelvar
Kinaxis Korber Lean Solutions Group 2H
Liberty SBF Locus Robotics Logility
LogistiVIEW Lucas Systems MCA Connect
MPO Nvidia Old Dominion
OpenText ORTEC Overhaul
Parsyl PMMI QIMA
Redwood Logistics Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash Saddle Creek Logistics
Schneider Dedicated Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD
Shipwell Tecsys TGW Systems
Thomson Reuters Tive Trailer Bridge
Vecna Robotics Verity
Verusen
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2023 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing