In a column published in the newspaper El Mostrador, a media outlet in which Senator Alejandro Guillier continuously expresses his opinions, the president of the Senate Energy Commission called for improving technology, creating synergies, and seeking a strategic bet for the future regarding lithium.
El Mostrador
13-10-2014
Alejandro Guillier: Chile in Pursuit of Lithium
The National Commission for Lithium, convened by President Bachelet, made a presentation to the Senate Mining and Energy Commission to report on the progress of the debate regarding a national policy for the exploitation of this resource. As stated by the Minister of Mining Aurora Williams, this proposal is expected to "consider a diversified, efficient, and effective production that allows for optimal profitability for our country."
As we know, 65% of the world's reserves of this non-metallic mineral are found in the salt flats of Chile (31%) and Bolivia (34%). Global production amounts to 155,000 tons of Lithium Carbonate, with Chile contributing 70,000 tons per year. There are 10 companies that control the lithium market in the world, and SQM is the world's largest producer with 24%. In turn, the Chilean Society for Lithium contributes another 17%. There is good news: in 2013, a ton of this resource was traded at 6,000 dollars, three times more than its 2,000-dollar price in 2000.
In the work of this Commission, we see an unparalleled opportunity to promote a virtuous equation between natural resources, science, technology, and innovation. Applied knowledge, combined with a partnership process between the State and the private sector, including foreign investment, could articulate a sustainable management policy for this resource. But, more importantly, it offers the opportunity to mark a substantive change from the rent-seeking extractive model that has prevailed in Chilean mining. There are few "world-class" resources that Chile possesses. Copper, lithium, and molybdenum are some of them. We must make a strategic bet with a sense of the future, one that transcends the cycle of a single government and invests in the global development of the lithium industry, projecting it over the next 20 or 30 years.
Two ideas for the debate: first, to strengthen the work being developed by the Lithium Innovation Center (CNL), part of the University of Chile, where, with scarce financial resources and limited state support, an interesting bet on research applied to industry and cutting-edge technology has been made since 2010. In particular, in electromobility as an alternative to oil (gasoline and diesel). We could work on a pilot project with this technology in an intermediate city in northern Chile. Second, I cannot fail to mention the virtuous coordination we should promote between the development of Solar Energy and Lithium. A synergy or dialogue that I do not observe among the various ministries, state agencies, research centers, international cooperation, and business associations in our country.
What the Lithium Commission resolves or does not resolve, with its deadline expiring at the end of November, will be a powerful signal regarding the –new deal– we want to define for the future of the exploitation of natural resources for all Chileans. This includes the strategic role we assign to the State; the conditions—beyond the simple exploitation of the resource—under which we select strategic partners; and the commitment to ventures that consider higher added value, technological innovation, and value chains with a global sense.
*Senator, President of the Senate Mining and Energy Commission
Source: http://www.elmostrador.cl/opinion/2014/10/13/chile-apuesta-por-el-litio/
