Matt Bevan

Lithium, the world's lightest metal, has a seemingly mystical range of applications.

Lithium-ion batteries are playing an enormous role in the global transition to renewable energy, and Bolivia's salt flats have the largest lithium deposits in the world.

The problem is, it's Bolivia.

Bolivian President Ebo Morales and his Mines Minister are resolute.

They plan to harness lithium at their own pace.

The socialist Bolivian government won't just open up the salt flat for a foreign mining company to exploit and ship the profits overseas.

And even if that wasn't the case, the flat is not exactly easy to access.

A freezing nowhere.

3,700 metres above sea level.

It's in the middle of the Andes, hundreds of kilometres from the coast.

We know that it's incredibly difficult to access because many have tried.

On the banks of the salt flat, there is a train graveyard full of locomotives abandoned by failed mining ventures.

This renders exporting the lithium or any resources over the Andes very expensive.

Fortunately, other countries also have lithium, which is much more conveniently located.

While the landlocked Bolivians try to figure out how to get their lithium to the coast, the famously sea-girt Australians did what they did best, digging up rocks and shipping them to China.

In 2022, the price of lithium skyrocketed, largely because of a surge in demand for electric vehicles.

So Australian miners began cashing in.

This all could have been very simple for China.

just buy lithium from established producers like Australia and Chile.

No worries, as we say in Australia.