Mexico is evaluating the possibility of nationalizing the country's lithium reserves, Kallanish notes.

During a conference marking the 100th day of his fourth year in office, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed that he will ask Congress to declare lithium a strategic mineral and reserve future exploration and extraction to the government if lawmakers do not approve constitutional reforms to strengthen state control over the electricity market.

The country's lower house is scheduled to vote on Sunday on the energy reform that could guarantee the state-owned Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) 54% share of the market. Opposition parties have already announced that they will not support the initiative.

“It is time to decide whether legislators position themselves as defenders of the nation to regain control of the electricity industry or as protectors of the interests of private companies and foreign investors,” Obrador says. “Soon, very soon, we will know who is who and if two-thirds of the votes for the electrical reform are not obtained, I will send an initiative to Congress next Monday to modify the Mexican mining law declaring lithium as an absolute property of the nation that can solely be exploited by the state."