IN-DEPTH: China’s Bid to Control Lithium in Latin America May Not Be So Easy
It’s been called “white gold” in the mining industry. Latin America’s lithium deposits have become a new El Dorado, a commodity conquest China is angling to control.
Along with Australia and Chile, China is among the top three lithium producers in the world. The Asian nation also commands an estimated 80 percent of global electric-battery production, which is driving the current surge in demand for lithium.
China has injected billions into the economies of lithium-rich nations such as Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia over the past decade in a bid for preferential access to the mineral.
However, with Chile and Mexico being the latest to announce the nationalization of their lithium industries, China faces new challenges to its goal of controlling the “white gold” rush….