Mexican president to sign over lithium reserves to energy ministry on Saturday

Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Wednesday he will sign a decree on Saturday to hand over the concession for all of the country’s lithium reserves to the energy ministry.

Lopez Obrador nationalized the country’s vast lithium deposits last April, hoping to cash in on surging demand for the metal from makers of electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

“(On Saturday) I will sign the decree to deliver the concession of the country’s lithium, all reserves, to the ministry of energy,” he said during his daily news conference, when describing his agenda for a trip to the northwestern border state of Sonora from Feb. 16 to 19.

The move to nationalize has attracted skepticism as to whether Mexico can begin to commercially extract its lithium without private expertise.

To date, Mexican lithium deposits identified in early exploration efforts reveal mostly clay-based deposits, which many industry experts argue will be much more difficult and costly to develop.

Mexico is open to partnerships, but any future joint venture between its new state-run company, LitioMx, and private producers must give the government a majority stake, Chief Executive Pablo Taddei told Reuters.

Lopez Obrador created LitioMx, formally known as Litio Para Mexico, by decree last August.

China’s Ganfeng Lithium controls Mexico’s most advanced lithium project, Bacanora Lithium, located in northern Sonora state, but Taddei declined to comment on talks over the project.