Thailand Aims for Lithium Production

2024-01-28

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  • Thailand hopes to start producing lithium from a mine in its southwest in about two years, government and business officials say.
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  • The mine could help the country become a center for electric vehicle (EV) production.
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  • Lithium is a metal critical to EV battery production.
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  • Establishing lithium mines would put Thailand in a special position among major producers of the metal because the country is also developing an EV production industry. Chinese carmakers already promised to invest $1.44 billion in that industry in Thailand.
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  • The Australian company Miner Pan Asia Metals is preparing to register for mining permits in March for the Reung Kiet project. The project is taking place in the country's Phang-Nga area. The property could also include the proposed Bang I Tum mine.
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  • Pan Asia's leader Paul Lock told Reuters that the company is "optimistic" about starting lithium chemical production from Reung Kiet by early 2026.
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  • Thailand's Department of Primary Industries and Mines (DPIM) predicts that the Reung Kiet site could produce about 164,500 tonnes of the metal.
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  • That would be enough to produce at least 1 million EV batteries of 50 kilowatt-hours, said DPIM Director General Aditad Vasinonta.
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  • The official said mining could begin there in about two years.
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  • And, Pan Asia's Paul Lock says the mineral resources at Bang I Tum may be 10 to 70 percent larger than Reung Kiet.
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  • Experts do not know how much reachable lithium exists in Thailand. Major suppliers of the metal include Australia, Argentina, Chile, and China.
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  • Center of production
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  • Thailand is Southeast Asia's largest automobile producer and exporter. It wants EVs to account for 30 percent of its yearly automobile production by 2030.
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  • Narit Therdsteerasukdi is Secretary General of the Thailand Board of Investment. He said the government has supported 38 battery production projects, including those for EV use, with total investment at $659.4 million.
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  • "Our goal is to push Thailand to become the regional hub for battery production, both for EV and for energy storage," he said.
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  • A regional hub is an important center of activity for a part of the world.
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  • The Thai government is also pushing for lithium exploration in new areas. That includes changing laws to permit private companies to study agricultural lands, Aditad said.
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  • One of the interested companies is Matsa Resources, an Australian miner looking for lithium in Thailand.
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  • Matsa holds two special permits to look for lithium in Thailand. And it has over 100 requests waiting, it said in January.
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  • "They will be only one of a handful of countries that have got the whole supply chain from mining to production within the same country," said Paul Poli, Matsa's leader.
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  • The lithium under exploration in Thailand is found within a mineral known as lepidolite. It is more costly to process than the kind of lithium mined in Australia and Chile.
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  • Matsa and Pan Asia said they are in discussions with Chinese companies to process the lepidolite mineral. Chinese companies have experience producing lithium from lepidolite in Jiangxi province.
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  • I'm Gregory Stachel.
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  • Devjyot Ghoshal and Panu Wongcha-um reported this story for Reuters. Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English.
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  • Words in This Story
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  • battery - n. a device that is placed inside a machine (such as a clock, toy, or car) to supply it with electricity
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  • optimistic - adj. having or showing hope for the future: expecting good things to happen
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  • supply chain - n. a network of businesses that supply the materials and parts needed to provide people with products and goods