Thailand has discovered a lithium reserve of around 15 million tonnes, which would make the country one of the world's main holders of the ore, key to the energy transition, a government representative announced on Friday.
The deposit, estimated at 14.8 million tonnes, is located in the province of Phang Nga (south), not far from the tourist island of Phuket, Rudklao Intawong Suwankiri, deputy government spokesperson, told a channel local television.
"
It's good news.
This is an opportunity for Thailand to become self-reliant in the production of batteries for electric vehicles
,” she said.
“
We are trying to find out how much can be exploited.
It takes time
,” she continued.
Also read: Cobalt, copper, lithium… The explosion of global trade in minerals essential to the green transition
A particularly coveted white gold
This deposit places Thailand behind Bolivia (23 million tonnes) and Argentina (20 million), which concentrate almost half of the world's reserves of this highly coveted white gold.
Identified as a “critical” metal by the European Commission in 2020, lithium is an essential component of electric car batteries.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, in office since August, wants to accelerate the transition of Thailand, a major automobile production center, to electric.
Chinese giant BYD plans to produce its first electric vehicles this year at a new factory in Rayong (east), its first of this type in Southeast Asia.