Mexico plans state lithium company, questions Chinese mine

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president says he will create a state-owned company to mine lithium and appears to suggest he will seek to cancel one of the few existing permits held by a Chinese company. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had said in October he wants to declare lithium a “strategic mineral,” but it had been unclear if that meant hiring private contractors with more experience. But López Obrador said Wednesday a newly created government firm will do the mining, something Mexico has no experience in. He also questioned whether a lithium mining concession now owned by a Chinese company was legitimately issued by a previous administration.