Almost two years after the creation of Litio para México (LitioMx), there has been no progress in the exploitation of this material, which is concentrated in significant quantities in Sonora, only legal processes and the lack of clarity on the part of the authorities prevail to date.
In June 2024, it was revealed that the Asian company, Ganfeng Lithium, initiated legal litigation before the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) of the World Bank, for not having respected the Bilateral Investment Treaties (BIT, for its acronym in English) between Mexico and China.
The Asian consortium’s claim is that they are prevented from handling said element after the cancellation of their concessions, under the argument that the Mexican State is the only one authorized to do so, hence, even though they have had the permits since 2010 to carry out explorations, and since the discovery of at least 8 million tons of the mineral, they have not been able to extract a single gram.
Authorities at different levels of government estimate that this amount is located in the town of Bacadehuachi, Sonora, and represents the possibility of exploiting it for the benefit of Mexicans, which has not happened.
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If the arbitration filed by Ganfeng Lithium is validated, the Government of Mexico must comply with eliminating the restriction so that the personnel of that firm can dispose of the material at their discretion, not only in Sonora, but in other entities where it also has a presence.
For at least six years and being certain that there is enough lithium to exploit it, the Chinese company acquired 28.8% of the corporate capital of Bacanora Lithium and 22.5% of Sonora Lithium to reinforce the firm’s operations, with a total expenditure of 370 million dollars.
Despite this investment, the economic impact caused by the cancellation of nine mining concessions has not yet been revealed, which will be known once the Federal Government presents the arguments in the resolution against it.
It was in 2022 when LitioMx was created and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador appointed Pablo Taddei Arriola, son of the Welfare delegate in Sonora, Jorge Taddei Bringas, as general director.
The objective of the decentralized public organization, which reached a budget of around 10 million pesos in 2024, is to carry out the exploration, exploitation, benefit and use of lithium located in Mexican territory, in addition to the administration and control of the economic value chains of said material, according to the website of the agency.
This after the approval of the modifications to the Mining Law that same year, which prohibited lithium concessions and granted the exclusive right to its management, as well as commercialization to the Government.
Will it be able to operate in the open air?
In addition to this situation, the ruling by the Congress of the Union is being analyzed, which establishes reforms to constitutional articles 4 and 27 to prohibit open-pit mining, which would also have an impact on lithium production.
In this regard, the senator for Sonora, Lorenia Valles Sampedro, and president of the Mining Commission, declared that this point is being studied, where a voice is given to those who are part of that sector.
“We have a ruling that is under review, in the corresponding commission in the Chamber of Deputies, it is important to listen to all voices, we have been doing it at the local and national level, it is an exercise in listening, we share the need to take care of the environment, to generate the idea of this impact on mining activity in the different activities,” she said.
Because the change of federal administration is imminent, she mentioned that they will wait for it to be finalized and to be able to dialogue with the representatives of the agencies related to mining and economic activity, as well as with the president-elect, Claudia Sheinbaum.
“We will seek the most appropriate approach for the State. I must say that Sonora is the mining State par excellence. We are represented at the national and international level, we represent between 20-25% of the GDP in the State and Hermosillo is the capital of the mining sector supply in the country. We will act responsibly, taking into account everyone,” he said.
For the state leader of the Confederation of Workers of Mexico (CTM), Javier Villarreal Gámez, the lithium panorama in his opinion is complicated, since while the authorities are trying to make changes to the Mining Law to restrict that these affect the environment, they have not reported how they will manage and exploit said element.
“Lithium necessarily has to be open-pit, among other mining operations, it is not retroactive, the mines continue working the same, it is not going to change much in that. A lot of noise was generated with the reform, but it is not retroactive, they are concessions that will continue working, as the president-elect, Sheinbaum, has said, there will be the possibility of adding a transitional article where the exceptionality is handled, I think that qualifies the issue and calms, so that there is no alarm,” he emphasized.
Source: elsoldehermosillo
