Calderón assured that the launch last Friday of the first Bolivian industrial plant of this complex in Potosí and the implementation of other projects in salt lakes in this department and in Oruro point in this direction.
“All of this is basically aimed at putting Bolivia on the map of major producers of lithium carbonate,” she explained in an interview with state broadcaster Bolivia TV.
The owner insisted that the compound is now “the star product” of Bolivia and is in line with the import-substitution industrialization policy promoted by the government of President Luis Arce.
The new complex is located in Colcha K, Llipi town, in Potosí. It required an investment of almost 767 million bolivianos (nearly 110 million dollars) and will have a capacity of up to 15,000 tons per year in three phases.
Calderón explained that this factory will operate with traditional technology, but clarified that four other plants will also be built in the salt flats of Potosí and Oruro that will synthesize battery-grade lithium carbonate, but through the direct lithium extraction (EDL) method. reach up to 100,000 tons.
He emphasized that although the main product that YLB is working on is lithium carbonate, it is also paying attention to the extraction of potassium chloride, a compound that is in high demand in the fertilizer market.
He added that the production volume of this agriculturally important compound is currently 70,000 tons and is expected to reach 90,000 tons by the end of the year.
Lithium carbonate is the fundamental raw material for the production of batteries, and amid the energy transition to electric mobility, demand for this and other evaporite derivatives ensures that the price remains high on the international market.
Calderón claimed that, as part of government policy, hundreds of natural resources and other raw materials industrialization plants will be built in Bolivia, which will create a great demand for professionals specialized in engineering and other fields necessary to operate these factories. he concluded.
Born in Potosí, Calderón is an electronics engineer who graduated from Tomás Frías University with excellent results. To this end, she benefited from the government program “100 Scholarships for Scientific and Technological Sovereignty” and obtained a master's degree in industrial process automation systems at the University of Grenoble Alpes, France.
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