Nina said that if the company fails to obtain battery-grade lithium carbonate, with 99.5 percent purity in the two plants that it will set up in the Uyuni salt flat, it will have to dismantle them and leave the country without receiving “a single boliviano” from the State, in addition to the fact that “it has to have an 80 percent recovery” in the processing of the raw material, he declared in an interview with the radio.
The manager explained that these parameters are stipulated in the technical annexes, and if the plant does not meet these parameters after the performance test during a stabilization period of up to three years, the company is obliged to dismantle the plant. Additionally, she declared that she will have to leave the place as it was before her entry and leave without receiving “a single boliviano.”
Nina stressed that this is the “technological risk” that the Chinese company runs, because it may be that the plant is not adapted to the weather conditions of Bolivia and the type of brine found in the Uyuni salt flat. “We must take into account this provision that the contract has, because these companies have already carried out their technological test in the salt flat, in theory the technology they have should work (…), because that is why they have qualified to sign the contract (…),” he said.
In November 2024, YLB signed the service contract with the Hong Kong company CBC Investment Limited for the implementation of two battery-grade lithium carbonate production plants, with Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technology.
Official sources indicate that the capacities of the plants are 10 thousand and 25 thousand tons per year, with an investment of 1.3 billion dollars. According to YLB, they will produce a total of 35,000 tons of battery-grade lithium carbonate each year.
The Commission for Plural Economy, Production and Industry of the Bolivian Chamber of Deputies approved the contract between YLB and CBC on February 7 and sent it to the plenary for debate.
The commission is also analyzing a contract between YLB and the Russian company Uranium One Group to produce 14,000 tons of lithium carbonate each year in the Uyuni salt flat using EDL technology with an investment of more than 970 million dollars.
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