López Obrador redoubles his energy commitment in search of state control of lithium

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, during the morning press conference at the National Palace. Isaac Esquivel (EFE)

Andrés Manuel López Obrador already has the bandage ready before the wound opens.

The future of the constitutional reform presented by Morena, the party in power, to overturn Mexican energy policy continues to be surrounded by uncertainty just four days after its vote in Congress.

The opposition has hardened its position and will sell its support for a pro-government initiative that seeks to partially dismantle the liberalization of the sector at a very high price in Sunday's meeting.

Faced with the possible blockage in parliament, López Obrador has launched alternative paths to achieve his goal.

For the strengthening of the state company, the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), Morena already has the recent endorsement of the courts to the electricity law.

And the same route, the modification of ordinary laws that do not require a qualified majority in the chamber, intends to continue so that "lithium remains the property of the nation" including also the constitutional reform that hangs by a thread.

“We are going to wait for Sunday”, the president announced during his daily press conference this Wednesday, “and if there is betrayal by the legislators, I have just signed the reform to the mining law, which does not require 2/3 parts, it is simple majority, so that lithium remains the property of the Nation”.

The Morena government intends to shield lithium and turn it into a strategic resource like oil.

López Obrador has repeated on several occasions that he is not going to give more concessions to private companies for the exploitation of the so-called "white gold."

It will be the state that took the reins of production.

"Lithium, which is ambitious, because I know, both corporations and foreign governments, is going to be from Mexico," added the president during his press conference.

In his offensive, López Obrador accused opposition deputies of giving in to pressure from international companies with interests in the sector.

Changes in Mexican energy policy have aroused concern, for example, from the US government, which considers that the new regulations are in violation of the free trade agreement (T-MEC).

“I want the deputies to rebel, to ignore them.

That they tell them: 'Know gentlemen, lobbyists, foreigners that we have the task of defending the people and the Nation and that they are not going to double us, not even with their filthy money',

Lithium is used in the electromobility sector, batteries for electronic equipment, energy storage systems, antidepressant drugs and even in the nuclear industry.

According to the Government of Chile, a regional leader in lithium production, demand in the world will grow 80% by 2030. And Mexico has large quantities of this mineral.

Three years ago the Anglo-Canadian company Bacanora Minerals found the largest lithium deposit in the world in the town of Bacadéhuachi, Sonora, in the north of the country.

The concession equivalent to 100,000 soccer fields contains probable reserves of 243 million tons of minerals in rocks and clays.

The find soon made headlines and shares in Bacanora, which had won a 50-year concession, skyrocketed.

A few months ago the company was bought by its majority shareholder, the Chinese giant Gangfeng, one of the largest manufacturers of electric batteries in the world.

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