“The issue of the sale as such (…) and the demand that was being had would in this case be from the entire European Union at the date that we are already receiving the requests,” stated the president of Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB ), Karla Calderón.
The head of the state corporation reported that, although these requests are available, YLB offers the final product “at market price and to the best bidder.”
Interviewed by the state channel Bolivia TV, the owner reiterated that the factory inaugurated last Friday will reach one hundred percent of its production capacity in 2025 and after its inauguration she already received purchase requests from countries in Asia and Europe.
“The next management, depending on the available raw material, we would be reaching 30 percent capacity to be able to achieve the maximum capacity for the 2025 management, in which it would be 15 thousand tons per year,” she said.
Installed at a cost of almost 767 million bolivianos (about 110 million dollars) in Colcha K, in the jurisdiction of Llipi, south of the Uyuni salt flat, the factory taxes the raw materials for the manufacture of batteries in a context of growing production of electric vehicles, whose demand skyrocketed in the global market.
Calderón assured that the launch of the first Bolivian Industrial Plant of this compound and the execution of other projects in the salt flats of this department and Oruro aim to place the highland country in a leading position on a global scale.
The owner insisted that the compound is now “the star product” of Bolivia and is in line with the policy of industrialization with import substitution promoted by the Government of President Luis Arce.
Calderón explained this factory will operate with traditional technology, however, he clarified that four other plants are also being executed in the Potosí and Oruro salt flats that will synthesize battery-grade lithium carbonate, but through the Direct Lithium Extraction (EDL) method to reach up to 100 thousand tons.
She stressed that, although the main product YLB works on is lithium carbonate, attention is also paid to obtaining potassium chloride, a compound in high demand in the fertilizer market.
She added that to date the production volume of this compound of importance for agriculture is 70 thousand tons and it is expected to reach 90 thousand before the end of the year.
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