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Lithium Economics
Afghan
lithium?
Jun 15, 2010
In an interview published today (in
Spanish) by El Potosi.net, Juan Carlos Zuleta argues that it is highly unlikely
that the Afghan lithium may pose a threat to Bolivia
Lithium economics expert Juan Carlos Zuleta Calderón says that it is
premature to talk about the mentioned discovery since in the report there are
no data on the concentration of lithium or on costs to produce that resource in
Afghanistan to conclude whether it is a real competition or not for the Salar de
Uyuni.
To Zuleta Calderón, it
is necessary to have information free of sensationalism since this kind of
discoveries oftentimes give rise to declarations that do not correspond to
reality. He cited the case of the lithium resources in
Zacatecas, Mexico, of which many thought of as the largest on earth, well above
those of the Salar de Uyuni, but these versions were never confirmed.
The expert in lithium
perceives that behind this information are the United States authorities that
pretend to improve their possibilities to access the energy
mineral to the extent that at present they face a hard crisis in
this field. It has been said that President t Barack Obama is
trying to overcome an energy crisis that to some extent is a result of wrong
decisions made in his administration such as allowing to drill oil wells in the zone where the oil spill occurred which currently represents an ecological
danger.
Zuleta suggests not to
forget that the US imports more than 50% of the energy it consumes,
which together with high oil prices, puts that country in a situation of crisis
from which it can´t get out.
Finally, he remarked
that Afghanistan possesses similar characteristics to those of Bolivia as far
as its orography is concerned, but it is highly unlikely that it could have a
deposit, which is larger or with a higher concentration of lithium than that of
Salar de Uyuni.
Times Article Viewed: 25698
Note.- This is a republication of a blog originally published on EVWorld.com on June 15, 2010.
