The German company ACI Systems Alemania (ACISA) does not want to accept the end of the joint lithium-mining project announced by Bolivia's government. "We do not just give up this project," said ACISA CEO Wolfgang Schmutz the SPIEGEL. "Solutions are now being sought and found, and we need the support of politics."
Help hopes for dirt especially from Peter Altmaier. The Federal Minister for Economic Affairs has repeatedly campaigned for the project of the Baden-Württemberg medium-sized enterprise with the Bolivian state-owned Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB).
The joint venture, in which ACISA holds 49 percent, was the first to allow a German company direct access to lithium - and to secure the supply of raw materials to the German economy. Lithium is an indispensable component of batteries and battery cells for electric vehicles.
Gregor Fischer / DPA
Contract signed in 2018 with ACISA chief Schmutz (bottom left) and Minister of Economics Altmaier (top, 2nd from right)
On Sunday, Bolivia's President Evo Morales had decreed that the joint venture, which was only founded in October, be canceled. Previously, strikes and protests against the project had accumulated near the planned production site on the salt lake of Uyuni; Bolivia's opposition had also positioned itself against it. The critics warned against environmental damage, according to them denounced by many too low royalties by the company and also partly demanded to dissolve the joint venture. Morales, who supported the project for a long time, came under pressure in the presidential campaign.
"We do not want to go to court"
His turnaround has caught the Germans cold. "I heard on Monday morning at half past six in my bathroom in the radio news that the project should be stopped, so at first I thought I was not listening," said Schmutz the MIRROR. "So far, we have not received official statements, and no one from the Bolivian government has contacted me," said Schmutz on Tuesday. Now he asks his partners from YLB for clarification.
Pablo COZZAGLIO / AFP
Workers in Bolivia with lithium carbonate
"We have contracts and legally binding agreements," said the manager. "But we do not want to go to court, but rather to find consensual, constructive solutions that help everyone - especially the local people." Thus, the establishment of a foundation is conceivable, which is funded by the joint venture and could co-finance local institutions such as kindergartens or schools.
Schmutz said he would ask the federal government and the Stuttgart state government for help. "We've gotten into a difficult situation, and it's important that the politicians who supported us at the time do not submerge, but continue to fight for us." That was also in her own interest: "Electromobility and the energy transition are huge issues in the German economy." The raw material lithium is the existential basis for this. "
