Russian ministry fears shortage of lithium raw materials as biggest suppliers halt shipments

MOSCOW. April 13 (Interfax) - Russia's Industry and Trade Ministry fears a shortage of lithium raw materials in the country due to the suspension of shipments by the largest suppliers, Chile and Argentina, the deputy head of the ministry's metallurgy and materials department, Vladislav Demidov said at a roundtable in the Federation Council.

"There is no lithium mining in Russia. Raw materials come in the form of lithium carbonate from Chile, Argentina, China and Bolivia. In the current conditions, shipments from Chile and Argentina have been suspended, raw materials can be obtained only from Bolivia," Demidov said, adding that China is experiencing a shortage of this raw material itself.

"With lithium the problem is already huge, because if there is a refusal to supply raw materials from Bolivia then, unfortunately, we'll have nowhere to get lithium raw materials. We have processing capacity, but if there is no feedstock there could be a very big problem in supplying our own lithium-ion battery needs," Demidov said.

There is no commercial lithium mining in Russia. Lithium is processed by the Chemical Metallurgical Plant in Krasnoyarsk, Rosatom Group's Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant and TD Halmek LLC in Tula Region.