Vladislav Demidov, Deputy Head of the Metallurgical and Materials Department of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that the suspension of supply could lead to problems in the production of batteries and energy storage systems. Let’s make a small change: not “can”, but “will”.

who is left

• Extraction of lithium raw materials is not carried out in Russia.
• All raw materials come mainly from Chile, Argentina, China and Bolivia in the form of lithium carbonate.
• Shipments from Chile and Argentina have been suspended.
• Theoretically, China can supply lithium raw materials, but it itself is extremely short of this material, so it will meet its needs in the first place.
• So now the opportunity to procure raw materials is only from Bolivia.
• However, it will be extremely difficult to meet all of Russia’s lithium demand, which was previously met by at least three suppliers. Or rather, impossible.

According to Lithium, the problem is already huge, because if the supply of raw materials from Bolivia is refused, the same [як] and Chile and Argentina will not provide us with raw materials, unfortunately we have nowhere to buy lithium raw materials. If there is no raw material, there can be a big problem in meeting their own lithium needs in lithium-ion batteries,
– says Vladislav Demidov.

But the invaders have one more hope. In early February, Gazprom, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Irkutsk Oil Company signed documents on a lithium production project at the Kovyktynskoye field. Gazprom estimates that this can largely meet domestic lithium demand. However, it is unclear how long it will take to develop the field and increase production.