[Excerpt translation from Spanish to English provided by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre] 

"Sweden seeks lithium in South America amidst white gold fever" - 20 November 2019

.. ...A high-ranking business official from the Scandinavian nation told Reuters on the phone that companies in Sweden, which are promoting such batteries are home to the global car brand Volvo, were looking for alliances with regional lithium and copper producers...Governments and car manufacturers around the world, with an eye on the expected huge demand for electric cars, seek alliances to extact this light metal, even in the so-called "lithium triangle" located in Chile, Bolivia and Argentina...Peru, one of the main copper producers, is also looking to make its way into the action. Plateau Energy Metals of Canada announced last year the discovery of 2.5 million tons of high grade lithium resources in the south of the country, with the potential to be the world's largest lithium mine... "What you see in Sweden, Germany, in many countries now is how we are going to get the materials and minerals needed for the future of electrification", told Reuters Niklas Johansson, Secretary of State to the Minister of Foreign Trade... "This is not only lithium, but also copper, which is very important in Peru"... In the region, China's Tianqi Lithium Corp has acquired a large stake in Chilean mining company SQM.  Germany has also made a big push with an agreement in Bolivia to help exploit the country's huge untapped reserves...Sweden's auto industry includes Volvo cars, now controlled by Chinese car giant Geely, and truck manufacturers AB Volvo and Scania. The Swedish firm Northvolt will begin construction in August of a huge lithium-ion battery plant.