Bolivia to Get Chinese-Made Pilot Plant for Making Lithium Batteries
Bolivia to Get Chinese-Made Pilot Plant for Making Lithium Batteries
Caracas,
Wednesday September 11, 2013
LA PAZ – Bolivia will receive a $2.9 million Chinese-made pilot plant for manufacturing lithium-ion batteries in the next few weeks, with production expected to start up in the second half of this year, a government official said.
The pilot plant will be shipped in the next few days and should arrive in the South American country in March, Corporacion Minera de Bolivia official Luis Alberto Echazu told state media.
The plant will be used to train Bolivian technicians, who will learn how to operate an industrial plant that will be constructed in the future.
The project is part of a government plan to develop the Uyuni Salt Flat, located in the southwestern Andean province of Potosi, on its own to produce batteries for electric cars, computers and cell phones.
President Evo Morales is promoting the development of the lithium industry without foreign partners, but he proposed a partnership with Japan last week to manufacture electric cars in Bolivia that would use domestically made lithium-ion batteries.
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