Chile's lithium dreams raise water concerns in the desert

In the salt flats of Aguilar and La Isla -- at an altitude of 3,400 meters and 4,400 meters respectively -- the temperature is minus zero and the wind biting. Photo: RODRIGO ARANGUA / AFPAs night falls in Chile's Atacama desert, the world's driest, a drilling machine extracts brine to measure levels of lithium -- a crucial mineral for the global switch to cleaner energy, but harmful in its own way.

The project is key to Chile's plan to retake its position as the world's top lithium producer, which it lost to Australia in 2016. Competitor Australia, which extracts lithium from rock rather than brine, today produces 43 percent of the mineral and Chile 34 percent.

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Chile to protect some salt flats, but selection lacks data, scientists sayMinisters overseeing the Chilean government’s sustainability and climate change efforts have proposed a network of protected areas comprising 27 salt flats and lagoons, part of the country’s National Lithium Strategy.
Fonte: SATodayNews - 🏆 44. / 51 Consulte Mais informação »

Giant lithium partnership created in ChileChile's state-owned copper giant Codelco signed a deal Friday with SQM to nearly double the private mining firm’s current extraction of lithium, a key mineral for the global switch to cleaner energy.
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