Mexico Moves Forward with Nationalization of Lithium

Written by Amir Richani for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Saturday decreed a lithium-rich area as a mining zone, a few months after creating the nation's public lithium company and nationalizing lithium deposits.

Lopez Obrador signed an order declaring 234,855 hectares in Sonora as a mining zone.

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), Mexico holds a reserve of 1.7 million tons of lithium, placing it among the top 10 countries with lithium reserves.

Lithium is used for electric vehicle batteries, and is a key material in the transition to cleaner energies and technologies.

"What we are doing now is to nationalize lithium so that it cannot be exploited by foreigners, neither from Russia, nor from China, nor from the United States," Lopez Obrador said. "Oil and lithium belong to the nation, they belong to the people of Mexico, to you, to all those who live in this region of Sonora, to all Mexicans."

Last year, the Mexican government nationalized the nation's lithium reserves, limiting the operations of private companies in the sector. In August, the government created LitioMx, Mexico's public lithium company, tasked with exploiting lithium across the country.

Lopez Obrador recognized that there are legal appeals to the government's decision. Still, his administration has highlighted that it would work with private companies for the production of lithium.

"To achieve the above (development of the industry), permanent contact is maintained with private investors and governments from around the world, to inform that Mexico offers unbeatable conditions to invest at this time, including political stability and legal certainty," according to Mexico's Ministry of Economy.

There were 16 lithium projects operated by private companies across Mexico as of 2022, according to the Ministry of Economy. Of those, 15 projects were in the exploration stage, while only one was in development.

The project under development is being carried out by Bacanora lithium (London, England), a company with capital from the United Kingdom and China that operates in the state of Sonora. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Metals & Minerals project and plant databases can click here for a list of project reports and click here for a related plant profile.

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