Mexico is in the initial efforts to exploit and commercialize lithium and although the federal government did not specify in its draft reform to the Mining Law how much is potential in our country, Morena Senator José Narro Céspedes said that the reserve of this metal is approximately 243 million tons, a situation that encourages optimism about one of the largest deposits in the world.
Opposition senators argued on Tuesday that according to the Mexican Geological Servium's own data the possible reserves are actually 443 million tons of clay, but they clarified that the percentage of this could be only 0.87%.
Documents of the Mexican Congress suggest that there are still no precise figures on production expectations, so there are different points of view on the magnitude that Mexico can assume vis-à-vis the international market for this mineral.
It is estimated that the countries with the highest reserves are Australia (62.8 million); Chile (8.6 million); Argentina (1.7 million); China (one million); United States (630,000); Canada (370,000); Brazil (95,000); and Portugal (60,000). Thus, our neighbors to the north would have a smaller reserve, as long as it is found that Mexico has the reservations that the defenders of the new law stand out in this area.
In addition, the countries with the highest production per tonne of this mineral are: Australia (42,000); Chile (18,000); China (7,500); Argentina (6,400); Portugal (1,200); Namibia (500); Brazil (300); Canada (200); United States (s/d); and Zimbabwe (s/d). In this regard, the Mexican newspaper La Jornada published that the value of a ton of lithium is currently 78,66 dollars.
In Sonora, the municipalities with deposits of this mineral are Puerto Peñasco, Pitiquito, Tubutama, El Sáric, Aconchi, Nacozari, Huasabas, La Colorada, Suaquí Grande, Onavas, Soyopa, Alamos, Nogales and Agua Prieta.
In Chihuahua Ascención, Aldama, Cusihuiriachi and Jiménez, while in Coahuila they are located in Sierra Mojada and San Pedro.
A little further south, reserves are explored in the municipalities of Jiménez del Teúl, Fresnillo and Villa Hidalgo in Zacatecas, and finally San Luis Potosí are found in Santo Domingo, Villa de Ramos, Salinas, Moctezuma and Villa de Guadalupe.
Although the Mining Law has been processed at a rapid pace in the Mexican Congress since April 17, the regulation of lithium is a trend between different producing countries or with expectations of having deposits of this mineral. However, the bill is still pending the development of technological capacity for its extraction and commercialization.
The opposition parties' claim is that with this regulatory framework, the Mexican government is closed to the participation of private companies with the experience and capacity, so they warn that our country does not even have a State body with the capacity to extract it and they pointed out the case of Bolivia, which in 2017 nationalized this natural resource and after a few years had to resort to foreign companies in order to take advantage of its lithium reserves.
On this point, Morena's legislators insist that Mexico will soon develop a productive state enterprise capable of exploring and developing the entire production chain of this metal, also ensuring that it will be done efficiently and that the resources obtained will be to the benefit of the nation.
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