Mexico Calls Meeting of Regional Lithium Producers

On Wednesday, Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) called Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile to a meeting to "do joint work" regarding lithium extraction.

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This call occurs after Mexico enacted a reform to the Mining Law that declares lithium as a mineral of public utility whose exploitation can only be carried out by the State. To do so, the AMLO administration will create a new public institution.

"There are countries where lithium has already been nationalized, as is the case in Bolivia... Although that has not happened in Chile and Argentina, their governments are interested in this meeting," Lopez Obrador revealed, adding that Mexico will learn from national experiences and define well the characteristics of the public company.

“We will analyze whether this new company will be independent or related to the Secretaries of Economy or Energy, the Federal Electricity Commission, or the entire Government. We are going to look for the best business model”, AMLO promised.

Previously, when defending the mining law reform, the leader National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) recalled that Mexico is in tenth place of the 23 countries with mineral reserves and has the world's largest deposit in the state of Sonora.

"Lithium is a key component of batteries and other electronics that are becoming increasingly common around the world – particularly in the case of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries used in electric-vehicle manufacturing, as well as larger-scale battery storage," NS Energy recalled.

"With these manufacturing trends expected to accelerate over the coming years as the energy transition accelerates, interest in this silvery-white metal will continue to grow, and analysts expect global demand will more than double by 2024," it added.