From: lessgovt@gmail.com   
      
   The high cost of extraction in the Lithium Triangle   
   By Tushar Khurana, May 15, 2023, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists   
      
   Over half of the world’s known lithium deposits are located where Chile,   
   Bolivia, and Argentina border one another. Situated within the Andes, parts of   
   the area are drier than anywhere in the world outside of Antarctica. The   
   region is often referred to    
   as the Lithium Triangle because of its mineral-rich salt flats, which form   
   when large pools or shallow lakes of water accumulate on plateaus or between   
   mountain ridges and evaporate. Lithium revenue accounted for nearly 2% of   
   Chile’s annual gross    
   domestic product last year.   
      
   In announcing his intention to grow the government’s oversight of the   
   lithium industry, Boric delivered on a campaign promise he made in 2021. Under   
   the new framework, the state will capture more revenue by mandating that   
   private companies partner with    
   public agencies for all future mining contracts. Subject to congressional   
   approval, Boric also hopes to create a publicly owned national lithium company.   
      
   Notably, the policy also takes a more ambitious approach to environmental   
   standards across the lifecycle of the industry. The government will create a   
   public research institute to develop new refining technologies, and institute   
   lithium waste and battery    
   recycling.   
      
   But critics question whether the plan will do enough to protect the Lithium   
   Triangle from the high costs of extraction.   
      
   Currently, lithium in Chile is extracted by drilling holes in the salt flats   
   and pumping brine to the surface, which is then left to evaporate in large   
   artificial ponds for months at a time. The method has depleted water levels in   
   a region already    
   suffering from a climate change-induced megadrought, affecting local farmers,   
   pastoralists, and a critical wetland ecosystem that supports three iconic   
   flamingo species.   
      
   In response to Boric’s announcement, a coalition of Indigenous peoples,   
   environmental activists, and researchers called the Plurinational Observatory   
   of Andean Salt Flats, or OPSAL, released a statement titled “Salt flats are   
   not mines, salt flats    
   are wetlands.”   
      
   OPSAL is worried that lithium extracted from Chile and other South American   
   countries will be primarily used for private electric vehicles in the European   
   Union, the United States, and China, which they call “a false solution to   
   climate change that    
   benefits the most polluting economies of the planet.” They argue that such a   
   solution wouldn’t meet the mobility needs of the majority of the world’s   
   inhabitants, and that attempting to replace all internal combustion engine   
   cars with electric    
   vehicles would create unnecessary sacrifice zones along lithium mining   
   corridors.   
      
   Earlier this year, a report from the Climate and Community Project found that   
   expanding public transportation infrastructure and reducing car battery sizes   
   could reduce lithium demand by up to 90% in the U.S., suggesting that it’s   
   possible to address    
   the climate crisis while simultaneously protecting Indigenous rights and   
   biodiversity.   
      
   Glatz, the former environmental ministry adviser, said that the Chilean   
   government’s active participation in the lithium industry could give it more   
   leverage in international discussions about lithium demand. “If countries   
   want to use these resources,   
    we could be negotiating concessions, both in terms of climate debt, but also   
   in the ways lithium is being used,” he told Grist. “It might be a better   
   use of that lithium to provide batteries for public transportation in the   
   global south, rather than    
   to support an unsustainable lifestyle in the global north, and it’s a shame   
   that these ideas are not in the discussion today.”   
      
   OPSAL welcomes increased state participation and hopes that the government   
   will center the Andean salt flats and wetlands in its management of the   
   lithium industry. Boric’s lithium strategy explicitly acknowledges   
   territorial and environmental concerns,   
    and includes a plan to conserve 30% of the salt flat region. But OPSAL wants   
   the government to go further by adopting an international convention that   
   guarantees Indigenous people’s right to free, prior, and informed consent   
   — a bedrock of    
   Indigenous rights. Such a guarantee would respect Indigenous communities’   
   “right to say no to a project that threatens their way of life and the   
   ecosystems where they live,” the coalition said in its statement.   
      
   Glatz admits that mining lithium in a sustainable way is perhaps the most   
   challenging part of Boric’s strategy. “I don’t think the Chilean state,   
   or anybody for that matter, knows how to do this in a good way. It is perhaps   
   one of the questions of    
   the 21st century,” he told Grist. “How do we deal with the demand for   
   specific types of resources that are needed for the energy transition, and at   
   the same time not destroy ecosystems or nations that have developed over   
   centuries?”   
      
   https://thebulletin.org/2023/05/the-high-cost-of-extraction-in-t   
   e-lithium-triangle   
      
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