The Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade warned of the risk of a shortage of lithium raw materials in Russia due to the departure of the largest suppliers - Chile and Argentina, said Vladislav Demidov, deputy head of the department of metallurgy and materials of the ministry, during a round table in the Federation Council of the Russian Federation.
“There is no production of lithium raw materials in Russia, the raw materials come in the form of lithium carbonate from Chile, Argentina, China and Bolivia. Under the current conditions, shipments from Chile and Argentina have been suspended, and the only opportunity to receive raw materials is from Bolivia,” he said, noting that China itself is experiencing a shortage of this raw material.
“The problem with lithium is already gigantic, because if there is a refusal to supply raw materials from Bolivia, then, unfortunately, we have nowhere to take lithium raw materials. We have processing capacities, but if there is no raw material, then there may be a very big problem in meeting our own needs for lithium-ion batteries,” Demidov emphasized.
There is no industrial production of lithium in Russia. Lithium is processed by the Chemical and Metallurgical Plant in Krasnoyarsk, the Novosibirsk Plant of Chemical Concentrates (part of the Rosatom group) and TD Halmek LLC (Tula Region).
