Mexico Will Create A State-Owned Company For Lithium Production

The government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador plans to create a state-owned company for the exploration and exploitation of lithium, announced the Secretary of Energy, Rocío Nahle.

In an interview to local media, the official highlighted on Wednesday that “lithium is a strategic mineral,” and gave as an example its use as a “raw material for the manufacture of electric batteries.”

According to Nahle, this state-owned company would be established in the secondary law of the energy reform proposed by the Mexican president. “It is going to pass for the exploitation of lithium,” she emphasized.

She also made reference to the expropriation of oil that occurred during the government of Lázaro Cárdenas (1934-1940).

Continue reading

Activists Occupy Site Of Proposed Lithium Mine In Nevada

On Friday, January 15th, two activists drove eight hours from Eugene, Oregon, to a remote corner of public land in Nevada, where they pitched a tent in below-freezing temperatures and unfurled a banner declaring: “Protect Thacker Pass.” You’ll be forgiven if you’ve never heard of the place—it’s seriously in the boonies—but these activists, Will Falk and Max Wilbert, hope to make it into a household name.

One of the activists is Will Falk, a writer and lawyer who helped bring a suit to US District Court seeking personhood for the Colorado River in 2017. He describes himself as a “biophilic essayist” and he certainly lyrical in describing the area where they set up.

Continue reading

Bolivia Elections: All You Need To Know

Bolivia – According to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, over 7.031.294 people are expected to vote out of the country’s estimated population of 11.428.245 citizens.

On October 18, the Plurinational State of Bolivia will carry its first presidential elections after a coup that forced former left-wing Indigenous president Evo Morales to resign on November 10, 2019. Following the coup, Bolivia has faced continued turmoil, political instability, and killings and persecution of progressive leaders promoted by the de facto government of Jeanine Àñez, who tried to change the election date several times to cling to power. 

Continue reading

Bolivia: Political Strike Shuts Down Country

Once again, a scenario of multiple crises that began with the November coup defines Bolivia’s future. De facto President Jeanine Áñez’s main achievement was to unleash a shameless wave of racist repression against Morales’ Movement for Socialism (MAS) and the Aymara and Quechua Indigenous peoples.

Áñez kept none of the promises she made to pacify the people after the November coup, nor did she offer any assistance to the poor during the twin crises of COVID-19 and the ensuing economic collapse. 

Continue reading

‘We Will Coup Whoever We Want’

On July 24, 2020, Tesla’s Elon Musk wrote on Twitter that a second U.S. “government stimulus package is not in the best interests of the people.” Someone responded to Musk soon after, “You know what wasn’t in the best interest of people? The U.S. government organizing a coup against Evo Morales in Bolivia so you could obtain the lithium there.” Musk then wrote:

We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it.

Musk refers here to the coup against President Evo Morales Ayma, who was removed illegally from his office in November 2019. Morales had just won an election for a term that was to have begun in January 2020. Even if there was a challenge against that election, Morales’ term should rightfully have continued through November and December of 2019.

Continue reading

Elon Musk Is Acting Like A Neo-Conquistador For South America’s Lithium

Elon Musk, the head of Tesla, wants to build an electric car factory in Brazil. He was supposed to meet Jair Bolsonaro, the president of Brazil, in Miami in early March, but he was too busy; instead, Musk will go to Brazil sometime this year. All eyes are on the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, whose Secretary of International Affairs Derian Campos is in direct contact with Musk…

Continue reading

Global Looter: US To Take Afghanistan’s Minerals To Defray Costs

The Companies of United States are planning to extract Afghanistan’s enormous reserves of valuable rare earth minerals, Reuters reported after U.S. President Donald Trump met with his Afghan counterpart Ashraf Ghani on Thursday.

Afghanistan has some of the world’s largest un-extracted reserves of rare earth minerals valuable in electronic production, such as lithium, as well as gold and various gemstones. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the total value at least US$1 trillion.

According to a White House statement, the presidents agreed that the development of Afghan minerals by U.S. companies would..

Continue reading