Water Mining and Extractivism of the Salar De Atacama, Chile

Abstract

The sustainability of the lithium industry in Chile is being threatened by the series of environmental and social impacts occurring in the Salar de Atacama. This study is based on a review of technical and environmental reports, including the inspection processes carried out to date at the Salar de Atacama, the main lithium brine deposit worldwide. Demand for clean technologies has increased global lithium production, pressuring the production system to increase the quota of brine extraction to satisfy the greater demand for this resource. As a result of the extraction process in the salt flat, millions of tons of water are removed from the system in an arid region, the biota is affected, and natural conditions change in this fragile and dynamic ecosystem. The impact on the salt flat not only translates into loss of water, but also in the disappearance of vulnerable species that only exist in these places, the loss of the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples, the losses of millions of years of evolution of adaptation processes of species, including the extremophilic organisms. From the economic point of view, although both companies are committed to compensating the damage to the Atacameñas communities, one with 3.5% of the value of sales and the other with a contribution of US$15 million annually, it is not comparable with the deterioration of the Salar and the loss of cultural heritage. In conclusion, it is verified that the lithium mining industry causes strong environmental and social impacts, so we cannot speak of lithium as a synonym for "green economics." Therefore, can the lithium industry be considered of strategic relevance to the development of zero carbon technologies?

Origins of Lithium/Sodium Reverse Permeability Selectivity in 12-Crown-4-Functionalized Polymer Membranes

“…Since the invention of the original lithium-ion battery, demand for lithium salts has grown significantly and will continue to rise as our society transitions toward more sustainable energy sources and electric vehicles. − In contrast to the technological innovations spurred by the lithium-ion battery, the majority of lithium salt production still relies on antiquated solar evaporation processes that are inefficient, , environmentally deleterious, and lack scalability. As a result, lithium salt production from brines is only economically feasible in highly lithium-concentrated reserves located in arid desert climates, restricting the bulk of production to a small number of locations .…”

Harvesting Lithium: water, brine and the industrial dynamics of production in the Salar de Atacama

“…The industrial process of producing lithium from brine involves pumping salty water from beneath the salar and concentrating it via evaporation under ambient climatic conditions, a process that can be understood as a form of water mining (Garcés 2020). The process requires managing a series of hydro-geological conditions and physical processes (such as evaporation) that are, to a great degree, external to capital: inputs of technology and labour are directed towards monitoring, sustaining or mediating physical environmental conditions that foster the isolation and progressive concentration of lithium into commercially valuable quantities.…”

Water or mineral resource? Legal interpretations and hydrosocial configurations of lithium mining in Chile

“…Such interpretation has been historically supported by mining companies and the Chilean State-although with some nuances across different State institutions. Others, including indigenous groups and part of the scientific community, argue that brine is a type of water and therefore point out that lithium mining in salt flats is nothing more than water mining (Babidge et al, 2019;Garcés and Álvarez, 2020;Ejeian et al, 2021;Jerez et al, 2021). The brine-water nexus has been analyzed from a diversity of perspectives among others molecular analysis (Ejeian et al, 2021), critical resource geography (Bustos-Gallardo et al, 2021), political ecology (Jerez et al, 2021) and hydrogeology and geochemistry (Marazuela et al, 2019;Munk et al, 2021).…”