Posted on 04/21/2023 11:26:11 AM PDT by dynachrome
Chile’s President Gabriel Boric said on Thursday he would nationalize the country’s lithium industry, the world’s second largest producer of the metal essential in electric vehicle batteries, to boost its economy and protect its environment.
The shock move in the country with the world’s largest lithium reserves would in time transfer control of Chile’s vast lithium operations from industry giants SQM and Albemarle to a separate state-owned company.
It poses a fresh challenge to electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers scrambling to secure battery materials, as more countries look to protect their natural resources. Mexico nationalized its lithium deposits last year, and Indonesia banned exports of nickel ore, a key battery material, in 2020.
“This is the best chance we have at transitioning to a sustainable and developed economy. We can’t afford to waste it,” Boric said in an address televised nationwide.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
I always thought EV’s would be a ridiculous, woke central-planning failure
I just didn’t imagine it would happen so soon.
The Dims should get out of the way of drilling for oil, drilling for natural gas, mining coal, mining lithium, and mining cobalt in the United States. The free market would free up supply of all energy types.
And the Dims should quit trying to force people to drive a car type they don't want. If the Dims didn't increase demand for EV's there'd be plenty of minerals here and power to charge EV's to meet the free market demand. Even if the Dims don't suppress demand for driving ICE cars there's plenty of oil to meet demand (Trump showed us how cheap gas at the pump can be).
A free market on both supply and demand would let everybody get what they want and get it cheaper.
Ping......................
If it was copper I would page
Francisco d’Anconia
Lithium is the new copper.....................
Indeed.
I was just about to post that Chile has large copper deposits too.
A free market is kryptonite to politicians.
They want a cut of the action in bribes—and they love power.
If the peons suffer they could not care less.
OLEC?
Egad.
“Brother, you asked for it!”
In other news, trading futures for raw lithium just tripled.
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