SAO PAULO (Yonhap) --Korea's state-run mineral development corporation set up a joint venture with its Bolivian counterpart to develop lithium products in the South American country, sources said Friday.

Seoul's embassy in La Paz said POSCO, Korea's leading steelmaker, and a consortium led by Korea Resources Corp. (KORES), signed a deal to create a lithium venture with Comibol, Bolivia's mineral development corporation.

The KORES consortium includes four other companies comprising LG International Corp., Kyungdong Co., Union Corp., and Aju Corp., and will hold a 24 percent stake in the joint venture, with POSCO and Comibol controlling 26 percent and 50 percent, respectively.

Under the agreement reached Thursday, the new company will make anodes and cathodes for electric vehicles that will be used on rechargeable batteries made from lithium found in Bolivia.

The country's lithium deposit is estimated to stand at around 5.4 million tons, or half of all known reserves in the world.

Comibol is to provide the lithium, nickel and manganese needed to make battery-related parts and other battery products, and the Korean consortium plans to offer manufacturing knowhow.

The tie-up is expected to be a win-win arrangement, because Bolivia can learn the manufacturing process from its South Korean partners, while Seoul can gain access to the critical natural resource that is used in mobile phones, notebook computers and batteries for electric vehicles.

Bolivia had initially considered bids from companies from the United States, China, Finland and Switzerland, before it chose to partner with South Korean businesses.

South Korea, which is the largest manufacturer of lithium rechargeable batteries, imports 12,000 tons of lithium from countries such as Chile and Argentina. (Yonhap)