Government to Discuss Future of Private Lithium Concessions

President López Obrador announced he is in talks with mining companies involved in lithium production, aiming to convince these private players to give up their concessions. The move appears to be a strategy poised to strengthen the state-led clean energy project, called the Sonora Plan. 

In a press conference, López Obrador said that there are “one or two” mining companies that were granted concessions that were never fully legally formalized since the companies do not have water use permits or environmental impact assessments (EIAs).

Following the announcement that Mexico would nationalize lithium production, the mining industry wondered whether the government would withdraw concessions or seek out agreements with the players holding them. According to López Obrador, the government has chosen the latter option, although he said that agreements must be reached within the new framework of the state-owned company in charge of exploiting lithium, LitioMx. The president added that the government’s lawyers are analyzing the issue and will talk to these companies, which were not mentioned by name. 
“In any case, we are going to talk to them, because the idea is that the lithium from Mexico is used so that plants that produce electric vehicle batteries for the automotive industry are installed in our country and contribute to the economy,” he said. 

In the past, López Obrador had promised that his government would respect previously granted concessions, saying that lithium’s nationalization would only affect future endeavors. 

In April 2022, the Mexican government nationalized lithium exploration and exploitation, backed by the Sonora Plan, which aims to transform Sonora into a clean energy hub.

To make the plan happen, the government announced an investment of over US$48 billion to strengthen the Sonora-US supply chain, promote the manufacturing of batteries and electric vehicles and construct clean energy power plants, which include Latin America’s biggest solar plant in Puerto Peñasco. On Dec. 27, 2022, MBN reported that López Obrador announced Mexico would acquire debt to finance the Sonora Plan but asked the US government to support it with low-interest rates. “We accept that these loans can be acquired or contracted because they are for the future development of the country,” López Obrador said.