Governor of Sonora Appointed Head of LitioMx
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Governor of Sonora Appointed Head of LitioMx

Photo by:   Alfonso Durazo
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Fernando Mares By Fernando Mares | Journalist & Industry Analyst - Thu, 09/01/2022 - 16:28

President López Obrador appointed the Governor of Sonora and former Minister of Public Security, Alfonso Durazo, as the manager of Litio para México (LitioMx), the new state-owned company that will manage the exploration, exploitation and transformation of lithium in Mexico. 

On his Twitter account, Durazo announced that he was appointed to spearhead LitioMx after a meeting with President López Obrador in Palacio Nacional. The company will be headquartered in Sonora. According to Durazo, LitioMx represents an opportunity for economic development for the inhabitants of the state. “I had a meeting with President López Obrador at the Palacio Nacional… he gave me the responsibility of giving continuity to this project,” Durazo added. 

Before his meeting with López Obrador, Durazo said that the president had previously shown interest in including Sonora in LitioMx’s activities. López Obrador also said that he is evaluating the possibility of joint ventures with private companies in the development of mining projects, said that one condition is that all industrialization processes must be carried out in Sonora. The president promised further details would be revealed soon. 

Last week, the government published a decree in the Federal Official Gazette (DOF) that created LitioMx as a decentralized organism, which completed what the Mining Law reform started in April 2022. According to the decree’s Article 6, the company must elaborate programs for the exploration, exploitation and harnessing of lithium, as well as develop projects involving engineering, research and geological studies. The company can also collaborate with both public and private players toward the transformation and distribution of lithium derivatives. 

One of the most controversial articles of the decree is Article 9, which specifies the structure of the company. According to the article, the Minister of Energy will head the Managing Board. The board will also be formed by the Ministers of Finance, Economy, the Interior and Environmental and Natural resources, all of them with a voice and voting rights.

The structure of LitioMx has been criticized by industry insiders who said that the head of the company got picked based on political issues rather than technical aspects, since the insiders consider that the Ministry of Energy does not have the required knowledge to manage the project. Instead, they argue that the Mexican Geological Survey (SGM) should lead it. “The government has a profound lack of knowledge regarding lithium. The minister that has more to do with lithium is the one Economy, not even the SGM, which has been studying it,” said Luis Vázquez, President, the Association of Geologists and Mining Engineers in Mexico (AIMMGM).
 

Photo by:   Alfonso Durazo

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