In 2023, Bolivia signed multi-billion dollar deals for lithium extraction with Chinese and Russian state-owned companies, including the CBC consortium and Rosatom/Uranium One. Since then, despite these deals expanding further, very little progress has been made, with extraction and production stalling despite promises from all stakeholders about “rapid industrialization.” 

Given Bolivia’s increasingly friendly relationship with American adversaries, the continuous problems plaguing Bolivia’s mining sector, and the growing alternatives for lithium development, it may be time for the U.S. and other democratic states to look elsewhere. 

Contentious elections in 2025, drama with Evo Morales, and upticks in political protests in the mining region have also distracted the MAS ruling party from business, focusing on putting out political wildfires over fulfilling the lithium deal. 

Evaporation pool scandals with Russian- and Chinese-run plants also confirmed that the Direct Lithium Extraction (better known as DLE) technology offered by both countries was simply inadequate for Bolivia’s lithium industry. This was confirmed repeatedly by lithium experts, including directly by the late Juan Carlos Montenegro, who told me, “This is a geopolitical partnership, and it shows in the level of competence on display in the lithium project.” The government has simply refused to listen, to its own detriment.