For countries with an abundance of the mineral, and other battery metals like nickel and cobalt, the possibility of increasing their influence over the global supply of these sought-after commodities is a lucrative prospect.“The battery will be the defining technological and supply chain battleground for the industry in the next decade, and access to their constituent raw materials will be crucial,” S&P Global noted in a report published this week on EV raw materials.Telam, Argentina’s national news agency, reported last month (link in Spanish) that foreign ministers from Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile are in “advanced talks” on creating a mechanism that would give them control over lithium prices “at a global level.”Like Indonesia, the three countries — often called the “lithium triangle” because they represent 58% of the world’s identified lithium resources (pdf) — [our style is no spaces between em dashes] are hoping to get other major producers on board.“In South America, for example, there is a very differing political landscape, meaning views on how to exploit lithium resources in different countries vary massively, and as such this could easily act as a stumbling block towards forming a ‘cartel,’” said Daisy Jennings-Gray, an analyst at the consultancy Benchmark Mineral Intelligence in an email.For example, a major cobalt project there is PT Huayue, a joint venture on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi established by China’s Tsingshan Holding Group and China Molybdenum."