Strategic partner for lithium extraction in Bolivia

Powering the Future, Uplifting a Nation

For decades, raw materials have left South America with most of their value attached. Short of capital, governments accepted financing models in which a foreign company built the mine or the plant and, in return, secured long-term access to the resource on terms set when the country had the least leverage. The result is familiar: unprocessed material goes out, little industry is built at home, and economies that were never able to diversify stay locked into the same cycle of poverty and inequality.

This project is structured the other way round. The sponsor funds 100 % of the equity — Bolivia contributes no cash and carries no repayment obligation — and the Bolivian State nevertheless holds 51 % of the joint venture, and with it 51 % of the profits, in addition to taxes and royalties. Of the 49 % that goes to the private partners, 15 % is ring-fenced for Potosí: education, healthcare, infrastructure and community development, paid directly into the department without passing through the national treasury. Over the life of the project that is in the order of US$1.8 billion, and what it is spent on is proposed and voted on by the communities themselves, through the Decidimos app.

Assuming responsibility

Our project safeguards local communities and the fragile ecosystem of the Salar de Uyuni through sustainable practices. The plant produces its own water from the brine, without evaporation ponds. This water is used for lithium carbonate production, with a portion supplied to local communities for drinking water and agriculture — 200,000 litres per day guaranteed to Río Grande while the plant produces.