“We are in Chile to talk (…) about the association that we can launch in order to contribute to the Chilean adventure of extracting and exploiting lithium” and thus satisfying European and French needs, he told AFP on Friday. Olivier Becht, Minister in charge of Foreign Trade of France, visiting Santiago.
According to the senior official, large factories are being built in the north of France to manufacture electric batteries.
“But it’s useless to build large battery factories if we don’t have the materials to manufacture them, and one of the main components is lithium,” Becht said, recalling that Chile has the world’s largest reserves of this mineral.
The Minister in charge of Foreign Trade, after assuring that there is a lot of competition for Chilean lithiumHe maintained that his country has a “totally different” technological offer from what other countries and companies can offer. “Thanks to companies like Eramet or Geolith, we have the possibility of extracting lithium, considerably reducing water consumption”Becht noted.
Public-private alliance for the extraction of lithium in Chile
At the end of April, Boric announced the National Lithium Strategy at a time when the world seeks to move away from fossil fuels in the face of the climate crisis.
The plan foresees a public-private alliance, with the State present throughout the production chain through a future National Lithium Company.
Currently, through a system of concessions, two private companies extract lithium from the Atacama salt flat, 1,700 km north of Santiago.
During his visit to Chile, Olivier Becht met with the Chilean Ministers of Mining, Marcela Hernando; of Energy, Diego Pardow; of Transport, Juan Carlos Muñoz, and with that of Economy, Nicolás Grau. The official also spoke with the Chilean authorities about the cooperation between the two countries for the production of green hydrogen.
Source: Ambito
