Advanced technologies of the state corporation Rosatom will minimize the impact on the environment in lithium mining areas in Bolivia at a new joint project, TASS reports.
On Thursday, Alexei Likhachev, the head of the state corporation, said that the environmental sustainability of Rosatom's technologies, which drew special attention from the Bolivian side, has become one of the state corporation's competitive advantages over other companies.
"Firstly, no chemical compounds are used, no chemical reactions are used during the extraction of lithium. Secondly, these water flows again return to the salt marshes, thus preserving the natural water balance, which our Bolivian partners paid special attention to," - he said during an interview to the "Russia-24" TV channel.
The head of Rosatom also noted the importance of the agreement signed between the two parties on the establishment of an industrial complex for the extraction and production of lithium carbonate in Bolivia, adding that this took almost two years.
On Thursday, the state corporation Rosatom signed a framework agreement with the Bolivian state company Yacimientos de Litio de Bolivia (YLB) on the creation of an industrial complex for the extraction and production of lithium carbonate in Bolivia. The capacity of the production complex is expected to be 25 000 tons of lithium carbonate annually with the possibility of increasing the declared volumes based on the results of geological exploration. The implementation of the joint Russian-Bolivian project will make it possible to create a full cycle of production and processing in this South-American country which has the largest reserves of lithium in the world. Lithium is in high demand for the transition to a high-tech economy.
