Bolivia taps China, Russia's Rosatom in bid to unlock huge lithium riches
LA PAZ, June 29 (Reuters) - Bolivia has signed lithium agreements with Russian state nuclear firm Rosatom and China's Citic Guoan Group, the South American country's government said on Thursday, as it looks to develop its huge but largely untapped resources of the battery metal.
The deals, which envisage total investment of $1.4 billion, follow a similar agreement in January with giant Chinese battery maker CATL, another potential win for Beijing in its efforts to lock in supply of the metal used in electric vehicles.
Russia's Rosatom, which bid via its Uranium One Group unit, confirmed the news, saying it would invest $600 million in the project, its first large-scale lithium venture overseas, with planned annual capacity of 25,000 tons of lithium carbonate.
Molina said Citic Guoan would invest $857 million and would also "look at investing in battery plants and the installation, possibly with technical studies, of a vehicle assembly plant, to create a true electric transport revolution."
