The Saudi Arabia of lithium
If we start driving cars that run on batteries rather than gasoline, we’ll need a lot of lithium. It turns out that, just like crude oil, a lot of the world’s lithium is tied up in a single region — Bolivia:
“We know that Bolivia can become the Saudi Arabia of lithium,” said Francisco Quisbert, 64, the leader of Frutcas, a group of salt gatherers and quinoa farmers on the edge of Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat. “We are poor, but we are not stupid peasants. The lithium may be Bolivia’s, but it is also our property.”
