MEXICO CITY – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced on Thursday that his government will seek an agreement with Chinese lithium miner Ganfeng, while still defending Mexico’s rights, following the firm’s arbitration case over a disputed concession.
Lopez Obrador did not detail a potential agreement but emphasized his government’s 2022 decision to nationalize Mexico’s lithium industry, reserving future production for the state.
The president, who favors government-controlled resource extraction over private production, suggested that the dispute with Ganfeng stems from confusion over how previous governments granted concessions.
“We believe that previous governments issued mining concessions generically, not specifically for lithium, and we don’t think it applies,” he said.
Currently, there is no commercial production of lithium in Mexico, a critical component in rechargeable batteries, particularly for electric vehicles.
Lopez Obrador, whose term ends in September, noted that public-private partnerships for lithium projects are allowed.
Last week, China’s Ganfeng and two of its units filed an arbitration case against the Mexican government over a mining concession in northern Mexico with the World Bank’s dispute settlement center. Shanghai-based Ganfeng is a leading global battery maker and lithium miner.