Posted on the KDNC Board24 Oct 2023 08:23
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Bacanora Lithium, which in 2021 was fully purchased by China's Ganfeng, plans for an open pit mine and lithium processing plant have been steadily delayed. The pause after the formation of LitioMX was just one more. The company's financial statements already said that a first production would arrive in 2019, then they said that this would take place in the middle of this year. But now, following action by the federal government, the plans have been suspended indefinitely.
The company had also announced among its plans that the project would create between 1,200 and 2,000 employees. But the last figure that Secker gives is just 30 workers.
Secker says the main reason for the delay has been regulatory moves and the creation of the state company, about which little is still known about its operation. “While this was becoming clear, we had stopped all major works. But we are ready to start as soon as the government has more clarity on how they want to move forward. And as we said before, we are happy to work with the government if that is how they want to proceed (...). “We believe we can build a lithium center in Sonora that would benefit all of Mexico.”
The federal government had said, after the reform of the Mining Law and the creation of LitioMX, that it would not cancel any of the concessions given up to that date and that it would respect what was stipulated because the law cannot be retroactive. Bacanora Lithium's permits were valid until 2060 and 2065. Sources within the federal government have told Expansión that the company only had authorizations for the mining exploration phase, but that it did not have any directly related to lithium production. . Secker defends that Bacanora has exploration licenses, environmental approval and water exploitation permits, which supports actions close to metal processing.
Meanwhile, on the side of Ganfeng Litihium the negotiation door is not closed yet. Secker says they are willing to jointly develop the project with the local and federal government because they have the technological and financial capacity to do so: “We have had a series of conversations with the government over the years. And we have continued to try to work with them, both to tell them our development plans and to tell them that we are happy to work with them on a basis that ensures that we can try to do something very special for Sonora.”
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