MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. The Russian raw materials base makes it possible to not merely cover domestic needs for lithium but also to export surplus lithium products, Minister of Natural Resources Alexander Kozlov told TASS in an interview.
Current Russian consumption of lithium products is small and totals about 1,500 metric tons in terms of the lithium carbonate (LCE), Kozlov said. It will grow significantly in years to come together with the launch of Russia’s first giga factories under construction in Kaliningrad and Moscow. "The raw materials base will cover not only such needs but the higher ones also. Furthermore, the surplus of lithium production output can be exported," the minister added.
Booked reserves in Russia amount to 3.5 mln metric tons of lithium oxide, which is sufficient to cover needs of the national economy, the Ministry of Natural Resources said in February.