The holy grail is high up in the Bolivian Andes, 3,700 metres above sea level, hidden beneath a crust of pure white salt.
The Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat, contains the world’s largest reserves of lithium, the essential ingredient in the batteries which power electric cars.
President Obama has said he wants a million such vehicles on America’s roads by 2015, to replace the cars we drive now which emit so much climate-changing gas. Suddenly impoverished, downtrodden Bolivia has something that everyone wants.
What struck me when I went to Bolivia to film our story was how history occasionally has a chance to avoid repeating itself – but normally does nonetheless.
In 1545, the Spanish discovered silver at Potosi, which became the centre of Spanish colonial power. Bolivians were used as slaves. Eight million of them are believed to have died from mining accidents and mining-related diseases over the centuries, while Spain grew rich. The Bolivians gained little from silver or any other metal.
Now, Potosi is a crumbling, a ramshackle old town, a symbol of Spain’s long-faded power. Miners still go down the narrow shafts, using crude tools to chip away at the rock and extract the remaining silver and tin, and earning a pittance.
So will it be different with lithium? Evo Morales, the country’s revolutionary, socialist, indigenous President says it will. He’s already nationalised the country’s natural gas.
Now he’s arguing that any foreign company which wants to exploit the country’s lithium – and they’re lining up to do so – will have not only to extract the mineral, but also to manufacture batteries and even cars in country. In other words, he’s trying to turn the historical tables.
“It is very simple: we will not continue exporting raw materials for another 500 years. That is over,” said Luis Alberto Echazu, the Minister for Mining, when I met him in his office in La Paz.
Well, maybe. My fear is that the Bolivian leader, who often lends his support to strikes and demonstrations, even though he now runs the country, will take brinkmanship too far.
Battery-makers like Mitsubishi and the South Korean firm LG, want Bolivia’s lithium but the new constitution says that all profits must be reinvested in Bolivia, suggesting that the companies won’t be allowed to make a penny. Yet Bolivia needs foreign expertise to develop lithium production beyond the first stage.
This is Bolivia’s historical opportunity, and I hope they make it work. Because if they don’t, the scientists developing the environmentally sound vehicles of the future will look beyond lithium, and develop an alternative technology.
Bolivia could find that the Holy Grail has moved elsewhere.
Channel 4 is not repsonsible for the content of external websites.
Commentsoldest first
One of the few good articles or documentaries I have seen about Salar de Uyuni and lithium topics till now
Lindsey: Thanks for the excellent information regarding Bolivian Lithium…
The Bolivian pilot scheme seeking to develop the lithium reserves should consider it a strategic priority to create partnerships with those companies – national or international – to develop the use of this resource for public transport not individual cars makers.
Bolivia is rich in natural and human resources. The last 500 years of explotation has left us with 10 million dead people, half of our territory lost to our neighbours who signed treaties with foreign companies. We have learnt from this experience two things: the first thing is that multinationals were created with one objective and it is PROFIT, but this profit it is not invested on people but kept in the hands of few. Our “guano” made Lord Gibbs the richest man in the UK, for us it meant the loss of human life and the loss of our Litoral. Our silver propped the Spanish monarchy for hundreds of years. Our tin made Patino one of the richest men in the world, although he was Bolivian his profits were stashed away in USA and Europe. Our oil and gas made British, Spanish and USA companies profitable (with bolivian subsidies during the Goni government), while in our country we still do not have gas in our homes.
The second thing is that if we want something done, we have to do it ourselves. This is why Goni Sanchez de Lozada, who was neoliberal and wanted to sell everything quick and cheap, was kicked out by the massess of Bolivia. This is why Evo Morales is the president of Bolivia 57% voted for him. He did not fall from heaven and he is there despite the efforts of USA and European pro-neoliberal political efforts to destablize his government. Evo Morales is our president because the people chose him, as the people supports the new Constitution. Which says that the Natural Resources belong to the country and are under the control of the estate for the benefit of the people. We want to be our own masters. If scientists find others sources of energies, so be it. Uyuni is beautifil as it is. It is one of the greatest tourist attractions of Bolivia, and most people in the area live of tourism and salt extract. If exploiting our lithium will mean makin the rich richer. While the people of Bolivia continue cleaning in London £5 an hour, working as illegal immigrants, leaving their children back home? Then, no we prefer the lithum to be left where it is now. The natural resources of Bolivia are for the Bolivian people, not for profit.
The Salar Uyuni salt lake in Bolivia has been described at the “world’s largest lithium resource” for over forty years and early in 2009 the world press has continued to describe it as such. However, the potential for Uyuni has been greatly overstated given the state of knowledge we have of the resource. Lithium mining is difficult and the processing in the case of Uyuni will be tricky. Further deep drilling exploration is required before we actually can determine its true potential to actually produce lithium carbonate for batteries. At this time our estimate of the lithium resource has a very wide range – true it could be large but it also could turn out to be a minor source of lithium!
TRU Group Inc – Lithium Consultants.
April 20, 2009
Leave a comment
* Required field.