🔋 Why having 43% of the world’s lithium doesn’t mean owning the battery business
Chile, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru signed a joint declaration to cooperate on strategic minerals, particularly lithium and copper. The agreement covers geological information, mining regulation, financing, research and industrial projects.
Argentina, Bolivia and Chile form the Lithium Triangle, which, according to USGS estimates, holds 64 million tonnes of identified lithium resources, around 43% of the global total. The IEA expects global lithium demand to grow fivefold by 2040 under its stated-policies scenario.
Most of the money is made after the lithium has been extracted, and much of that industry is outside South America. In 2025, China accounted for more than 80% of global battery-cell production capacity.
🇦🇷 Argentina shows what that split looks like in practice:
🟢Lithium production: 69,515 tonnes in 2024 (+67%)
🟢China’s share of Argentina’s lithium exports: 67% by value in 2024 (up from 43%).
The four countries now want to cooperate on processing, refining, research, specialist training and industrial projects. They also plan to seek financing from multilateral institutions and attract companies to joint projects.
Nothing concrete has been announced yet: no common refinery, battery plant, investment target or timetable. The four countries also have different mining rules and continue to compete with one another for foreign capital. A joint declaration does not remove either problem.
The agreement will begin to matter when money is committed to an actual industrial project. Until then, it may help the four governments negotiate with investors, but it will not change where most of the money from South American lithium is made.
September 7, 2026 3
