On a trip through Sonora, President López Obrador has promised that the Government "has the decision that lithium will be the property of the nation, of all Mexicans" | Photo: Twitter @AlfonsoDurazo

Mexico City, February 19 (RHC)-- President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has signed the decree declaring that lithium is property of the nation and its exploitation will be the exclusive power of the Mexican Government.   The decree establishes that 234,850 hectares will be considered as lithium reserves in the state of Sonora, northern Mexico.

The Ministry of Energy has been instructed to carry out follow-up work for the extraction of this mineral, which is essential for electric cars, as it is the basis for the production of the batteries they use.

The Mexican President indicated that "What we are doing now, keeping the proportions and in another time, is to nationalize lithium so that it cannot be exploited by foreigners, neither from Russia, nor from China, nor from the United States". 

"The oil and lithium belong to the nation, they belong to the people of Mexico, to you, to all those who live in this region of Sonora, to all Mexicans," said López Obrador.

From Bacadéhuachi, in the mountains of Sonora, in northern Mexico, López Obrador signed the decree and reiterated that lithium will be a strategic mineral for the future of technology in the world, and therefore decided that its exploitation will be the exclusive power of the State.