Bolivia hopes US$90M Chinese-funded lithium plant will crack DLE puzzle

Bolivian state-owned lithium company YLB has inked a new deal with a Chinese consortium to install a pilot plant at the vast Uyuni salt flat, where direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology would be used.

The project will see the construction of a 2,500 tonnes-per-year lithium carbonate facility that will be operated by the CBC consortium, formed by Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL) and its subsidiary BRUNP, and CMOC, previously known as China Molybdenum Company Limited.

CATL is the world’s largest battery maker for electric vehicles, BRUNP is focused on recycling technologies and CMOC is the largest molybdenum producer in mainland China.

The partners, which expect lithium production from the project within 18 months, hope that the pilot plant will demonstrate the feasibility and profitability of extracting the coveted light metal from the brine under the salt crust using DLE technology, and pave the way for larger-scale operations in the future. 

The fresh deal between Bolivia and CBC follows a similar one inked in January last year for US$1.4 billion for the construction of two industrial DLE plants with a combined capacity of 25,000 tonnes per year. 

The typical method to extract lithium involves pumping brine into ponds and processing the lithium salts that crystallize once the water has evaporated.

The Bolivian state has invested more than US$800 million in this method in the past two-years, but has admitted to relatively poor results.

Evaporation ponds work well enough in the salt flats of neighbouring Chile and Argentina, but seem less suited to Bolivia, where the brine has high levels of impurities and the salt flats experience a rainy season of several months.

DLE methods pull lithium straight from brine, potentially eliminating the need for solar evaporation, and also reducing water consumption and dependency on the weather.

The South American landlocked country has a history of unfulfilled lithium dreams. It has tried and failed to develop its industry several times since the 1990s, producing an accumulated 1,400 tonnes since 2018. 

World output of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE), a semi-processed form of the metal, hit 737,000 tonnes in 2022 and preliminary data shows it reached 985,000 tonnes last year, according to the latest report from Australia’s  Department of Industry, Science and Resources.

Bolivia has signed agreements with two other Chinese companies, CBC and Citic Guoan, as well as with Russia’s Uranium One Group, to build lithium carbonate production facilities.

The government has also tied up with Altmin, an Indian firm, to develop the technology of cathode materials for lithium batteries.