A proud cause: Russia loses access to the Lithium Triangle in South America
Lithium mining cooperation with Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, where 54% of the world's reserves of this metal are located, is coming to naught. Rosatom's Uranium One structure lost its stake in the Argentine Tolillar project, and the new Bolivian authorities froze the agreement on the Uyuni plant. Chile ignores the Russian side's proposals to provide the republic with advanced technologies for the extraction of raw materials, Russian Ambassador to the country Vladimir Belinsky told Izvestia. In conditions of isolation, the Russian Federation is accelerating the launch of its own fields in Siberia and the North with full capacity by 2030.
Lithium imports from South America
One by one, Russia is losing promising mining projects in Latin America, where more than half of the world's lithium reserves are concentrated. Due to the lack of its own production, the region was a priority for Moscow, but the arrival of pro-American authorities in a number of countries destroyed the agreements.
In 2021, Rosatom's Uranium One structure planned to invest $30 million in the Canadian Alpha Lithium project to develop the Toliar deposit in Argentina. But after 2022, the Western firm terminated the deal due to sanctions, transferring assets to the local Techint holding company. Switching to Bolivia was also unsuccessful: the 2024 contract with the state-owned YLB company for the construction of a plant with a capacity of 14 thousand tons of lithium in the Uyuni salt marsh has been frozen. After the elections, the new administration of Rodrigo Paz Pereira blocked the ratification of the treaty until the completion of a rigorous audit of all agreements.
At the same time, the Chilean market, which was the main strategic source of lithium until 2022, was closed to Russia. About 70% of all metal imported to the Russian Federation came from the republic — for example, in 2021, out of 9 thousand tons of total imports, Chile accounted for more than 6 thousand tons. After the start of its trade, due to sanctions risks and US pressure, Santiago completely stopped shipments. Currently, Chile is not even interested in advanced Russian technologies for resource extraction, as Russian Ambassador to the republic Vladimir Belinsky told Izvestia.
— Chile, whose previous government decided to freeze relations with Russia at the beginning of its military operation, continues to lose not only the Russian market, but also salmon, wine, and fruits, as well as access to our most modern technologies, including direct lithium extraction, which is the most effective and environmentally friendly method. work with these raw materials," the diplomat noted.
Russia has been promoting an eco-friendly lithium (DLE) mining method in the region. Unlike the Chilean method, where brine evaporates for two years in pools with a loss of 90% of moisture, RF technology works as a filter: the sorbent captures the metal in a few hours, and the water is pumped back. This also solves the problem of magnesium impurities, even if its concentration is 20 times higher than lithium. However, Santiago ignores these advantages.
Alisa Kazelko, an expert at the Valdai Club, noted that Chile stopped supplies to Russia solely under pressure from the United States. The resumption of imports is impossible without a change in the course of the West, which the country is not interested in: its exporters have already shifted to China, South Korea and Japan.
Vladimir Belinsky stressed that Chile's current policy not only affects the mining industry, but also destroys the overall trade turnover between the states.
— This situation, of course, requires rethinking in terms of bringing bilateral relations out of the impasse in which the Chilean side itself is incurring considerable losses: the annual volume of Chilean exports to Russia has almost tripled from the historical maximum in the pre-pandemic years of $ 1 billion. We hope that pragmatism and common sense prevail in Santiago in order to at least go beyond ideologies," the ambassador said.
How will Russia replace lithium supplies from abroad
Lithium is critically important for the production of batteries for military drones, walkie-talkies, communication systems and thermal imagers. At the same time, the ambassador noted the difficult situation in this industry.
"We are talking about both the volatility of prices for this material and, consequently, the profitability of the huge investments that were made earlier, as well as alternatives, including sodium batteries with an almost inexhaustible, unlike lithium, raw material base, not to mention their safety," Belinsky explained.
The lithium market is cyclical: according to the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the International Energy Agency (IEA), the average price per 1 ton fell from $63.7 thousand in 2022 to $9 thousand in 2025, and adjusted to $20 thousand in early 2026, said the deputy director of the Unified Scientific Center of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation. Vadim Petrov. In conditions of instability and complete import dependence of Russia, sodium-based technologies are becoming an alternative in this industry. Sodium is the sixth most abundant element on the planet, and its limitless reserves within the country provide 100% of domestic production of batteries, which are ten times cheaper than lithium batteries.
For the needs of the army, sodium batteries are also superior to lithium batteries: they work stably in frosts up to minus 40 °C (lithium batteries lose capacity in winter), are resistant to explosions when penetrated by bullets or shrapnel, and are safe for equipment. In addition, such batteries can be discharged to zero for safe transportation and long-term storage in warehouses. Lithium deteriorates or becomes explosive during deep discharge.
In the civilian sector, according to Vadim Petrov, the technology is most promising for stationary storage devices, backup power systems, data centers, warehouse and light wheeled vehicles, as well as urban transport.
But there is also a disadvantage — sodium-ion batteries are heavier and bulkier than lithium batteries with the same capacity by about 20-30%. Due to their weight, it is still difficult to use them en masse in light quadrocopters, where each gram is critical for flight range. However, the cessation of supplies from South America does not put an end to the Russian industry: the country is rapidly developing its own production.
The sanctions forced Russia to restore the industry, which was frozen in 1997. In March 2026, pilot work began on the Kola Peninsula. The main project is the Kolmozerskoye deposit (19% of lithium reserves in the Russian Federation), which Rosatom and Norilsk Nickel will launch in February 2030 with a capacity of 45 thousand tons per year. In parallel, the first lithium will be produced by the Polmostundra deposit, and in Siberia the metal is extracted by the DLE method from the brines of the Kovyktinskoye deposit. But the potential capacities of the projects exceed the demand. Vadim Petrov warned about the risks of weak exports and slow development of battery production.
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In 3-4 years, Siberia and the Kola Peninsula will begin to work in synergy: the first macroregion will provide rapid lithium extraction from brines, the second — large-scale volumes from ore, which should completely replace South American imports. Time remains the main challenge, as raw materials for the defense industry are needed immediately. So far, there is a way out through reliable partners. China buys raw lithium from South America and Australia, turns it into a ready-made powder (lithium carbonate) at its factories and officially sells it to Russia. And the creation of domestic production is focused, among other things, on the long-term strategic provision of resources to the Russian Federation, since tensions with the West are unlikely to ease in the coming years.
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