VOA新闻杂志2022--玻利维亚能否从其丰富的锂资源中获益？

Can Bolivia Ever Gain From Its Rich Lithium Resources?

Bolivia's government is planning this month to sell rights to mine in the country for the element lithium. Officials hope the move will bring economic growth in the country's southwest.

The project is the South American country's most ambitious yet to provide lithium to the world market. The metal is in high demand for use in electric car batteries and electronic devices.

America's Tesla and Germany's Volkswagen are struggling to find supplies while lithium prices have sharply increased.

But it remains¹ unclear if Bolivia can meet its goals.

Reuters news agency spoke² to many current and former officials and local people around Salar de Uyuni, a dry lake bottom, in the southwestern part of the country.

These people identified a number of barriers to the big project, including legal questions, technological³ issues and resistance from citizens. In addition, there are likely to be political disagreements within Bolivia's ruling socialist⁴ party over taxes and how to divide profits from the project.

Bolivia expects to announce later this month one or more partnerships⁵ with foreign companies. Eight competitors from China, Russia, Argentina and the United States are making financial offers, or bids. Reuters says none of the companies have experience in commercial mining of lithium.

The South American country has set a high goal. It seeks to make lithium-ion batteries locally by 2025.

Bolivia's neighbor Chile has been seeking the same goal for years without success, however. And it is a far wealthier country.

Juan Tellez is an advisor⁶ to the local governor. He said official do not expect any production until 2030 or five years behind the central government's plan.

The U.S. geological survey estimates that Bolivia has about one fourth of the world's known lithium resources. But it remains unclear if the metal can be recovered commercially.

That past is the past

Bolivia has spent hundreds of millions of dollars using traditional methods to extract lithium with little success. For this project, President Luis Arce wants contracts with companies that use a different, and untested, technology called "direct lithium extraction."

The list of companies willing to try includes the U.S. companies Lilac Solutions, Breakthrough Energy and EnergyX. Others include Argentina's Tecpetrol, Russia's Uranium One, and China's Fusion⁷ Enertech, CITIC Guoan Group and TBEA.

Arce's government is allied⁸ with Russia and China. But U.S. officials say they believe the two American companies have a fair chance.

Alvaro Arnez is a deputy minister in Bolivia's energy department. He oversees⁹ lithium development. He says it is important for the government to produce results to show that it is serious.

Salar de Uyuni is not too far from Potosí, a colonial center for silver production for the Spanish Empire. Now it is an area where the ruling socialist party has strong support. But local officials criticized the current president for trying to control lithium production without their approval.

"We don't even have a channel to express our opinion," said advisor Tellez, adding: "We are finding out (decisions) through the press."

Deputy minister Arnez said the Bolivian government has proposed creating business partnerships to extract lithium and manufacture batteries. The government would own 51 percent and get about half the profits from the ventures.

To do this, however, Bolivia has to amend¹⁰ its laws which bar foreign companies from extracting lithium. Local government officials want to use this fact to negotiate a greater share of the profits. They want 15 percent instead of the three percent they would get under current law.

The town of Uyuni gives the huge dry lake bottom its name. Eusebio Lopez said that, "as owners of these riches," the people living there should get the greatest gain from the project.

A state lithium extracting plant in the area employs 700 people, but few come from local communities.

"We have minerals, we have lithium," said Uyuni villager Karina Quispe, adding: "The people here should receive something."

Juan Carlos Montenegro is a former government lithium mining official who served under former president Evo Morales. He warned that people are too excited. "It's not grounded in reality," he added.

Words in This Story

ambitious –adj. having the desire to be successful, powerful and famous

battery –n. a device that stores electricity to run equipment

commercial –adj. used for business purposes

extract –v. to take a specific substance from a material by use of machines or a chemical process

channel –n. a way of expressing ideas, opinions

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

4 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

5 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

6 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

7 fusion   

n.溶化；熔解；熔化状态，熔和；熔接

参考例句：

• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc. 黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
• This alloy is formed by the fusion of two types of metal.这种合金是用两种金属熔合而成的。

8 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

9 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

10 amend   

vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿

参考例句：

• The teacher advised him to amend his way of living.老师劝他改变生活方式。
• You must amend your pronunciation.你必须改正你的发音。