#文章首发挑战赛#
In order to reduce dependence on China's supply chains, the United States and the West have thought of many ways, especially in the field of critical resources, vowing to say "no" to China. In this regard, China will not sit idly by, and often take the first step in the layout. No, just recently, China and Bolivia joined forces to secure the top spot in lithium resource mining.
Recently, the Bolivia lithium carbonate plant project undertaken by a Chinese enterprise was officially completed, marking Bolivia's official entry into the lithium industrialization process. The plant is located in the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, and the general contractor is China Machinery Engineering Co., Ltd. (China Construction Group), and China Railway Ninth Bureau is responsible for civil works.
Three years ago, the Chinese company signed a contract with Bolivia, and later experienced many difficulties in the construction process due to the outbreak of the epidemic, but the Chinese company did not give up, coordinated with the local government, and did its best to complete the construction period. Now it seems that China has taken this step very presciently.
【The site of the completion ceremony of the Bolivian lithium carbonate plant built by a Chinese enterprise】
The Salar de Uyuni mentioned above is located in the south of Bolivia, near the Andes, at an altitude of almost 3,700 meters. At the same time, it is also very large, with an area of more than 10,000 square kilometers, which is the largest salt field in the world. The reason why Chinese companies want to build factories here is to see that the brine of the salt marsh is rich in mineral resources such as lithium, boron, potassium, magnesium and sodium. In the Salar de Uyuni, there are more than 21 million tons of lithium alone, making it the largest lithium mine in the world.
At present, as the scale of the electric vehicle industry continues to expand in various countries, the importance of lithium, as one of the key raw materials for batteries, is also becoming more and more prominent. In addition to Bolivia, lithium mines are mainly distributed in neighboring Argentina and Chile, forming a "lithium triangle" with Bolivia. However, due to the limitations of mining technology, Bolivia has long lacked commercial mining activities, and production is much lower than that of the other two countries.
China is the world's largest lithium refining country, accounting for more than half of the world's existing lithium refining capacity, and holds more than 90% of the world's lithium refining patents. At the same time, lithium mining also has problems such as high energy consumption, high cost and high environmental impact. After the establishment of a factory in Bolivia, on the one hand, it can help Bolivia improve its economic level, and for us, it can also transfer a part of the industrial line.
[Bolivian President Arce]
In addition to lithium, Bolivia also has the world's largest reserves of antimony, tungsten, iron, tin, silver, zinc and other metals, and has the second largest natural gas field in South America. However, due to geographical, political and technological barriers, the resource advantage has not been fully utilized, resulting in Bolivia remaining one of the poorest countries in South America.
It is precisely because of the lure of these abundant resources that Bolivia has become a treasure trove of great powers. Bolivian President Luis Arce publicly condemned at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, accusing the United States of coveting Bolivia's rich lithium resources and attempting to destabilize the country, while making it clear that lithium resources will not be allowed to fall into the pockets of the United States.
After realizing that the United States is unreliable, Arce came to a conclusion, that is, it is necessary to rely on the strength of other major powers to carry out development, otherwise it is easy to become the "prey" of certain interest groups. I still remember what Arce said: "The existence of the BRICS countries can allow us to enter the international market with dignity", and Arce, who is true to his words, has indeed done so in recent years. Turning its attention to the BRICS countries to better promote the export of commodities in the country and develop their emerging lithium industry.
[Workers walk in a new industrial pond in the Salar de Uyuni]
China has the world's most mature lithium mining technology, and Bolivia has the world's largest lithium reserves.
The most critical point is that the lithium mines in Bolivia are almost completely outside of Western control, and we are the only customer of this plant. Now, in addition to CATL's investment of $1.4 billion, CITIC Guoan and Uranium One Group (Russia) will invest $857 million and $578 million respectively, which is undoubtedly another "victory" for China in the supply of critical metals.
This is definitely a day to remember for Bolivia, where the development and utilization of lithium resources will bring economic benefits, create jobs, improve people's livelihood and enhance the country's competitiveness. For China, this is a strategic cooperation to help secure the supply of lithium resources, support the development of clean energy technologies, and most importantly, we are ahead of the West. Why?
[Chinese enterprises signed a lithium mining agreement with Bolivia]
According to the IEA (International Energy Agency) forecast, by 2040, the global demand for lithium resources will increase by at least 40 times, Tesla President Elon Musk also said, saying that lithium is the "new oil" of the future, and he even considered directly acquiring a lithium mining company to minimize potential instability. At the same time, energy giants in the United States and Europe, such as BP, Shell and TotalEnergies, as well as ExxonMobil, have also actively deployed and have begun to "dig for lithium" everywhere.
In addition to Bolivia, China also has a partial or majority stake in key mines such as Argentina, Chile and Australia, and because almost all of the world's lithium smelting capacity is in China, the West is already a big step behind us in terms of layout.
Finally, from a more macro perspective, we didn't just run for lithium to choose to engage with Bolivia. In recent years, BRICS countries have become representatives of emerging market countries and developing countries, expanding the scope and depth of South-South cooperation through the BRICS+ mechanism, providing other developing countries with experience sharing, technical support, financial assistance and other forms of assistance, creating more market opportunities and development space for third world countries, and increasing their voice and agenda power in global governance, which is the key to Bolivia's choice of BRICS.