Lithium wealth must stay in Sonora says Carlos Navarrete
Currently, Sonora has the largest lithium deposit at an international level, with reserves of approximately 243.8 million tons
The country’s deposits must be nationalized for a better distribution of the material that is extracted from the Mexican subsoil, and this includes the Bacadéhuachi lithium mine, Carlos Navarrete Aguirre said.
The deputy president of the Mining Commission in the State Congress stated that the wealth should belong to the nation, as established by article 27 of the Constitution, which was amended to obtain concessions.
“We want all the mines to be nationalized, that is the main thing, that the wealth does not belong to the politicians or a few, that the wealth belongs to the nation and that it belongs to have better schools and hospitals,” he explained.
Currently, Sonora has the largest lithium deposit at the international level, with reserves of approximately 243.8 million tons, with the British company Bacanora Lithium and the Chinese Ganfeng Lithium interested in developing a multi-million dollar project in the entity.
Navarrete Aguirre clarified, however, that external people have always been involved in the management of the mines, which only seek the labor exploitation of the Mexican worker, and named the Canadian mining companies established in the country as an example of this practice.
According to the legislator, the initiative was recently presented at the federal level that seeks to nationalize lithium and preserve the deposits of this material in the country, of which he fully agrees.
“There is precisely a dialogue between some businessmen and it is being sought, the knowledge that I have is that there are already some deputies at the federal level who are intervening so that part of those mines that are going to extract lithium can be from the nation and managed by the government ”, he stated.
Lithium is a highly sought after mineral today due to its use in cell phone batteries, computers, electric cars, and other industrial machinery, which is why more and more world powers are seeking its extraction.
Given this, the president of the legislative working group-oriented to mining in the entity urged President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to reform article 27 of the Constitution and that wealth once again be, in his words, for all Mexicans.
The congressman reiterated that since the arrival of concessionary groups to the entity, only a limited number of people have benefited, which have crushed previously established unions and the same could happen with the lithium mine.
“They took the richest of our nation, they took the mines, including the Cananea mine, which is a jewel of the nation and I totally agree that the mines, whatever their material, belong to the nation”, bounded
Navarrete Aguirre recalled that there are 5,000 mining concessions in the State of Sonora, the most notorious being Nacozari and Cananea.
Source: elsoldehermosillo.com.mx
