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Ley N° 928 is the foundational constitutional-economy statute that makes YLB the single state vehicle for Bolivia's lithium resources. It operates under Article 351 of the 2009 Plurinational Constitution, which mandates that strategic natural resources remain in state hands. The law's key structural moves are:
1. Organisational creation. YLB is established as a distinct legal entity with its own patrimony, governed by a board appointed by the President via the Ministry of Energy. It inherits all assets, contracts, rights and obligations of the GNRE of COMIBOL.
2. Exclusive mandate. Article 5 grants YLB exclusive competence across the full evaporitic chain: prospección, exploración, explotación, beneficio, concentración, instalación, implementación, puesta en marcha, operación, administración, industrialización and comercialización. No private or mixed-capital entity may operate in these stages without YLB as the principal.
3. Vertical-integration sovereign doctrine. The law explicitly mandates downstream integration up to and including lithium-ion battery production, codifying Bolivia's "anti-extractivism" position — rejecting the role of raw-salt exporter and targeting value capture at the cathode/cell manufacturing stage.
4. Ministerial shift. By placing YLB under the Energy Ministry rather than the Mining Ministry, Bolivia signalled that lithium is an energy-transition input rather than a bulk mining commodity — a categorisation now common in global critical-minerals strategy.
5. Legislative ratification requirement. Any YLB joint-venture or services contract exceeding a defined threshold must be submitted to the Asamblea Legislativa for ratification — a governance provision invoked (and contested) in the 2024 YLB–CBC USD 1.03bn DLE services contract ratification process.
Implementing instrument: DS 3227 of 28 June 2017 regulated YLB's transitional operations and initial governance structure.
Bolivia holds the world's largest identified lithium resource: estimated 21 million tonnes Li equivalent, approximately 25% of global identified lithium resources, concentrated at three salars — Uyuni, Coipasa, and Pastos Grandes. Every supply-chain projection for 2030+ global lithium-carbonate and lithium-hydroxide availability must account for YLB's exclusivity over this resource base.
services contracts post-2017 (CBC/CATL consortium, CITIC Guoan–Lilac Solutions exploration JV). Ley 928 defines the legal basis under which all CN-BO lithium engagement operates.
and battery producers with long-term supply-security concerns track Bolivian availability as a structural risk factor.
predominantly with Chinese-capital entities) is the structural obstacle to IRA §45X / EU CRMA-domestic-content qualification for any Bolivian-origin material.
(Lilac Solutions, EnergyX) has pursued JV/technology-services structures rather than equity investment — the law does not permit foreign equity ownership of the resource.
indigenous-rights injunction (Tribunal Agroambiental suspension order, FPIC grounds) force renegotiation?
well below nameplate capacity from the 2013–2023 industrialisation phase (~3k t/yr vs. targets of 15k+). Does the DLE services model with CBC overcome this?
governance risk into YLB's counterparty reliability for any 5–10yr supply deal.