A Deep Dive Into Lithium Extraction in The Atacama Region of Chile

From the cars we drive to the phones we use; we have never been so disconnected from where and how our consumer goods reach us. At the click of a button, we can receive goods from halfway around the globe in less than 24 hours, yet many of us overlook the environmental and social injustice embedded in their production. One prominent example of this disconnect is lithium – a critical resource for batteries used in electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies. As this demand for green energy skyrockets, so does the pressure on ecosystems and communities near lithium extraction sites.

The Green Energy Transition

The movement away from fossil fuels is far from black and white, intertwined with profound social and environmental implications. The green energy transition advocates for a “green recovery,” promoting sustainable economic growth while allowing ongoing consumption patterns. In almost all climate mitigation strategies and goals, emphasis is placed on reducing emissions (half by 2030 and to reach net zero by 2050). Despite the importance of the reduction of carbon emissions for the future of our planet, they often overlook critical issues such as ecological footprints and environmental justice. Thus, understanding the relationship between resource extraction and climate change is urgent, particularly as key transition minerals (lithium, cobalt, and graphite) could increase by around 500% by 2050 according toWorld Bank research.

Rising Demand in the Lithium Triangle

At the centre of this lithium demand lies the “Lithium Triangle,” which encompasses northwestern Argentina, southwestern Bolivia, and northeastern Chile. This region boasts the world’s largest lithium reserves, covering over 400,000 km². Discoveries of lithium in the Triangle date back to the 1960s, with the first exploration and extraction projects taking place in the Atacama Desert for the development of aerospace, nuclear, and military technologies. Over 90% of the total lithium reserve in Chile is in the Salar de Atacama, considered one of the oldest and driest deserts on Earth. Despite its extreme conditions, its basin holds unique ecosystems with unique biodiversity and scientific value. Its “ecological, recreational, and cultural (18 indigenous communities) importance” gives the Salar a significant intrinsic value that should not be underestimated.

It was only in the late 2000s that the area received a high level of political attention, driven by rising electronic demand and green energy initiatives. Most recently, on April 20^th, 2023, Chile launched its National Lithium Strategy (NSL) to significantly boost its lithium production while linking economic growth to a global green economy. The NLS envisions a future where mining operations maximise recovery while minimising environmental impacts and fostering community engagement.

Chile’s Current Lithium Extraction Method

Lithium is being extracted in the Atacama Desert by two companies, Albemarle and SQM. Both are using the extraction method of brine evaporation. This process involves drilling into the salt flats to extract saline water (brine), which is then evaporated in large pools over 18-24 months. This causes water depletion, which is gradual, cumulative and hard to measure. One of the key issues with this process is that the water lost from the brine being evaporated is not accounted for as it is defined as a mineral rather than water. You may wonder how something so small as a classification can cause such controversy. Well, brines are different from other minerals, having hydrodynamic behaviour and water bodies that are in constant movement. However, the same as rock or sand deposits, the salt flats are defined by the state as static mineral deposits. Under the Chilean Mining Code of 1983, Title 1, Article 1 “The state has absolute, exclusive, inalienable, and essential dominance of all mines.” The non-recognition of brine as a water allows companies to only account for their freshwater expenses, resulting in a severe underestimation of the water crisis in the region, overexploiting resources beyond their natural recharge capacity. This dissociation has allowed mining companies to take more of their fair share, making the impact of “large-scale evaporation of millions of litres of water from brine invisible.” In Albemarle’s 2023 Sustainability Report, they claim that “brine is excluded because it is not deemed freshwater.” Despite these discourses being extremely dominant, the injustices linked to brine evaporation technologies have caused significant attention worldwide, from communities living near extraction points to scientists, international organizations, and environmental NGOs.

In the Atacama region, climate change coupled with water-intensive extraction from both copper and brine projects threatens traditional agricultural and grazing practices. Communities particularly affected includethe Lickanantay, Quechua, Aymara, and Colla peoples, which depend on the few common water goods available in the region. A research paper has emphasised this, where it concluded that most communities in the Atacama with a traditional agrarian livelihood are deeply concerned with water scarcity based on significant sights of environmental deterioration. Since Chile’s Indigenous Law and ILO Convention ratification, local communities have negotiated job opportunities and compensation with lithium companies, though tensions and power imbalances remain. In this context, the absence of substantial state intervention has allowed the mining industry to wield significant influence in terms of reshaping the region’s socio-environmental dynamic. Consequently, this has permitted companies to negotiate terms and adapt strategies that favour extraction and divide communities through the uneven distribution of benefits.

New extraction technologies

Despite the controversy surrounding current brine extraction methods, change is planned to happen. Chile’s National Lithium Strategy plans to shift from brine evaporation to Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) to meet global demand more sustainably. On the 9^th of July 2024, the governments confirmed a total of 88 expressions of interest that were received for the available scalars in Chile to develop lithium projects, with over 80% indicating the use of DLE technologies. Additionally, according to Reuters, Albemarle Corp plans to expand its operations in the Chilean Atacama region as early as 2028 with DLE. However, this still leaves 4 years of the saline sources to become severely depleted.

As we navigate the pathway toward a greener future, we must ask: can technology mitigate extraction’s impact, or are we avoiding the deeper issue of unsustainable consumption?