Strategic Resources Overseas: Lithium

JONATAN NUÑEZ; BRUNO FORNILLO

Routledge Research Encyclopedia of Chinese Studies

Routledge

Año: 2023;

Lithium is a mineral with multiple industrial applications ranging from the manufacture of glass and ceramics to the production of psychiatric drugs. At the same time, due to its intrinsic chemical characteristics, lithium is very ductile for the conversion of electrical energy into chemical energy and vice versa. For this reason, since the early 1990s, lithium has been increasingly associated with batteries used to power electronic devices such as mobile phones, notebooks and tablets. Closer to home, however, and largely as a result of the visible effects and dire projections of the global climate crisis, lithium-ion batteries have become increasingly important for powering electric vehicles and, by extension, in discussions about the energy transition. Thus, the possession of proven reserves, progress in the exploration of new resources and progress in the different links of the lithium industrialisation value chain are of a strategic nature for companies and states, which opens up a geopolitical struggle of planetary scope. In this situation, the current role of the People´s Republic of China stands out. By 2020, 45% of the world´s electric cars will be on the streets of the Asian country, while it has been at the forefront of lithium research since at least 2015, measured by the number of papers published in recognised scientific journals. In the same vein, China has a significant presence both in terms of extraction and the first stages of purification of the mineral and, above all, in terms of its industrialisation, especially in those with the highest added value. The existence of Chinese capital "upstream" can be seen in the deployment of Chinese companies in mineral exploitation in Argentina, Australia and Chile, as well as in the advance of commitments to enter Bolivia through the start-up of purification plants. In the same vein, it is worth noting that China also has a significant market share in the two main compounds used to manufacture batteries, lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide, as well as in other key minerals for battery manufacture, such as graphite and rare earths. Finally, in terms of the "downstream" stages, of greater relative value addition, the Asian country stands out both as a producer of cathode material and of complete cells. All of this would indicate that the People´s Republic of China is not only trying to position itself as a major player in the geopolitics of lithium, but even as its dominator.