A value chain that starts underground
Mexico is he seventh producer of light vehicles globallyafter China, the United States, Japan, India, South Korea and Germany, according to data from the International Organization of Automobile Manufacturers (OICA).
“In the change towards more environmentally friendly mobility schemes, mining has a fundamental role, due to all the amount of minerals that this is going to require,” Alanís toldExpansion at the end of his keynote speech within the framework of the VII Mining Congress Durango 2022.
But the private sector is still skeptical about the path that the Mexican government has chosen to capitalize on the lithium value chain. At the end of August, President López Obrador announced the creation of the Lithium body for Mexico, a figure similar to Pemex or CFE, which will be in charge of managing the entire mineral production chain, from exploration and exploitation; to all activities related to its derivative products.
Camimex considers that the exploration and exploitation of lithium will require expensive amounts that the State will hardly be able to afford alone, while the Mexican Association of the Automotive Industry, which represents more than 20 assemblers installed in the national territory, emphasizes that the assemblers they already have contracts with other companies for the supply of batteries and that they do not necessarily feel comfortable with the idea of closing contracts with a state company.
The administration of President López Obrador, who has sought energy sovereignty by strengthening state-owned companies, has halted the granting of new mining concessions, arguing that much of Mexico’s land has been handed over to industry for speculative purposes.
According to data from the Ministry of the Environment, in 2018 the percentage of territory under concession for mining activities was 10.64%figure that dropped to 8.59% in 2021 because the authorities have not handed over a single new mining concession.
Today the concession of the Sonora lithium deposit, which has been cataloged as the largest in the world, is in the hands of the Chinese Ganfeng Lithium. The giant operates five of the largest lithium deposits in the world, in Australia, China, Argentina and Mexico, and has managed to close lithium supply contracts with automobile manufacturers such as Tesla and BMW.
Camimex expects that in the course of 2022, mining investments will total 5,538.8 million dollars, 15.2% more than last year. Even so, the figure is about 2,500 million dollars lower than the historical record reached in 2012, of 8,043 million dollars, in a sector that represents 2.5% of the local Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Jaime Gutiérrez, president of the organization, said in a conference at the end of August that the deterioration of the attractiveness of Mexico as an investment destination has contributed to the fact that more than 800 mining projects are currently stopped in the country, waiting for better conditions to be reactivated. .
“Maintaining sustained growth will depend on improving conditions for investment, supporting fiscal competitiveness, certainty and legal certainty, and strengthening mining exploration,” he said in his presentation.
With information from Reuters