CATL has made new progress in the deployment of lithium resources in Bolivia’s salt lakes. Today CATL confirmed to Reuters that it will invest 1.4 billion US dollars to cooperate with the Bolivian government to develop lithium resources in the country’s salt lakes and build two lithium salt processing plants.
Bolivia has the world’s richest salt lake lithium resources, estimated at 21 million tonnes, nearly a quarter of the world’s total. However, due to multiple factors such as technology, environment, and politics, the country’s salt lake lithium resources have not been effectively developed and utilized. The cooperation between CATL and the Bolivian government will help break this deadlock, bring economic and social benefits to Bolivia, and provide CATL with a stable and low-cost source of lithium raw materials.
It is reported that CATL will extract lithium from the two salt lakes of Uyuni and Oruro in Bolivia, and build two lithium salt processing plants locally, which can produce up to 25,000 tons of battery-grade lithium carbonate per year. . The two factories are due to start construction as early as July, and the total investment in subsequent projects is expected to increase to about $9.9 billion by 2028.
CATL is the largest power battery manufacturer in China and even in the world, and its products are widely used in new energy vehicles, energy storage, 3C and other fields. In order to ensure the resilience and safety of the upstream raw material supply chain, CATL has been actively deploying global battery mineral resources and materials. In addition to the Salt Lake Project in Bolivia, CATL also owns lithium-containing china clay mines and hard rock lithium mine projects in Jiangxi, Sichuan and other places. The industrial chain project has obtained the mining license for the phosphate rock project in Guizhou.
Analysts believe that with the rapid growth of the new energy vehicle market, the demand for lithium and other battery raw materials will continue to rise in the future, while the supply side may face uncertainty and volatility. Therefore, it is in line with its long-term development strategy and sustainable development philosophy that CATL obtains scarce resources through self-made mining, investment, joint venture and cooperation, etc., and realizes resource recycling through recycling and other methods.
