Society’s advancement towards a more environmentally conscious world has resulted in research and reliance on new technologies and processes. One source that has become recently relied upon is lithium. Lithium is utilized and manufactured into lithium-ion batteries for electronic devices, energy storage systems, and electric vehicles. In particular, the push for electric vehicles has dramatically increased the demand for lithium worldwide. These plans have resulted in a 330% jump in lithium demand since 2015 1. Consequently, this newfound lithium reliance has resulted in a focus on extraction in the lithium-rich areas of South America– Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile, which have been deemed the Lithium Triangle. These desert salt flats alone hold approximately 55% of the Earth’s lithium reserves. Outside of lithium, these regions are home to many other commodities and minerals. These minerals, including copper, have been extracted for centuries in these regions which at times has resulted in detriments to surrounding communities and the environment. This research will examine how these current mining endeavors as well as past extraction projects have shaped the local environment and attitudes due to resource losses, environmental degradation, and cultural losses surrounding these mining projects.
The lithium extraction process in the salt flats is a resource-exhaustive and time-consuming method. Salt-rich water is pumped to the surface of the flats and into evaporation areas where it is left to evaporate over the next months leaving a brine with a high lithium concentration. During evaporation, a lime slurry is added to precipitate out chemical compounds to concentrate the lithium for recovery at nearby facilities 2. This process requires a large amount of water which is a scarce resource in these desert regions. The evaporation pits are also known to result in chemical release into neighboring towns. This detrimental extraction process is increasing as the world’s reliance on lithium surges. This extraction also does not directly benefit Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia. Once this lithium is extracted, the lithium is typically exported to outside countries such as the United States and China for the production of batteries and other products; this limits the benefits and monetary assets that Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia can obtain from these mining endeavors.
The local areas have also seen a loss of available resources, specifically, a decrease in water availability. Chile instituted the privatization of water rights in 1980. This governmental action has resulted in uneven water access for residents of Chile; this is especially seen in mining regions such as the lithium triangle. Since lithium mining takes place within desert regions, there is already water scarcity which has been exacerbated by the water-reliant mining processes. This loss of water rights for local and indigenous communities has resulted in group migrations, losses of sacred land, and the destruction of local industries such as agriculture. Over time, these actions perpetrated by the government and mining companies have resulted in a loss of community and ties to cultural lands 3.
Outside of these dangerous environmental repercussions, limited economic gains, and cultural losses due to lithium extraction, there are also social detriments seen within the local populations and governments. Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia have a high proportion of small towns and indigenous communities within their countries. These are especially seen in the regions in and surrounding lithium extraction sites. Many of these communities are deemed rural and impoverished due to their desert location away from major cities as well as due to the lack of resources in the inhospitable terrain. The people residing in these communities are greatly impacted by the presence of mineral commodities and the processes involved in their extraction. Conflicting opinions and emotions have been recorded from groups and persons residing in these communities. Some residents report feelings of newfound pride in the surrounding land due to the high-value prospect of lithium mining and tourism in the region. However, many residents worry about the exploitation of land and people which has been seen throughout the previous centuries during various mining endeavors. In addition, the prospects of new resources in the region, including lithium, have resulted in quarrels over the surrounding land rights. Many indigenous groups claim these lands as sacred either for religious purposes, burial grounds, or their homes. The prospect of lithium extraction in this area has brought both governmental and corporate interests to these previously ignored areas. This new attention to these indigenous groups’ lands has resulted in worry among the people as well as fragmentation of the territory between different indigenous groups 4 5. As the initiation of lithium extraction begins, daily life for local and indigenous populations is shifting resulting in varying opinions and viewpoints on lithium mining.
While lithium is the current focus of resource extraction in these regions, mining has been a crucial component of life for centuries in the Lithium Triangle. This resource-rich region has been mined for tin, copper, and many other commodities since the colonization by the Spanish. Varying minerals have been the mining focus depending on the demand or current events around the globe; however, copper has been a primary export for Chile for about a century following the discovery of a revolutionary extraction process. This new process involves milling and flotation of the copper product which allowed Chile to become a highly profitable copper mining hotbed.
While this new extraction process allowed for large economic gains, the extraction is still detrimental to the surrounding environment and groups. One significant environmental and social impact that this process entails is a significant water input. This heavy reliance on water for this extraction can result in water shortages as well as chemical release into nearby water sources 6. This increased availability of copper also altered the governmental and mining companies’ relationships. As time progressed, Chile went through times of nationalized and privatized mining endeavors due to varying leadership and economic holds. These shifts in power between the mining companies and the government altered and shaped the mining industry within Chile to this day 7. This mining process of copper in Chile is just one example of the numerous extraction projects that have previously and continue to take place within the Lithium Triangle of South America.
Similar to the current repercussions of lithium mining, these past mining endeavors also resulted in detrimental actions to the people, government, and land surrounding the extraction sites. Some of these actions can be further developed through the example of copper mining in Chile. The increase in extractivism in Chilean copper throughout the last century has resulted in local governmental quarrels, struggles for resources, and division of social communities. As mentioned, the Chilean government instituted different ownership laws over time; this inconsistency and the eventual switch to privatized copper mining caused hardship and significant financial losses for local governmental groups. Local towns and governments lost their hold on this commodity as foreign mining companies purchased mining rights to these regions in the lithium triangle 8.
In the past, mining companies have also had a major impact on the culture and community within these regions. Many of the foreign mining corporations attempted to implement a loss of culture with the institution of mining towns. These towns limit miners’ interaction with their homes and enforce rules outlined by the mining companies which resulted in an overall loss of cultural connection within mining communities 9. These past actions and injustices related to mining endeavors have resulted in distrust between local communities and mining companies.
Mining has been and continues to be a significant component and determiner of life within the Lithium Triangle of South America. These extraction processes have shaped the land and the people in the surrounding regions. The mining of these resources results in the alterations of sacred lands which significantly impacts the relationship between these mining companies and the surrounding residents. In addition, these extraction processes require large quantities of resources, such as water, that are typically scarce in these regions due to the desert environment. The presence of these mining companies influences the surrounding residents’ identities and cultural understandings due to the foreign influence they bring to the community. While these mining processes have been shown to be detrimental to the land and communities throughout the past, they persist due to our world’s reliance on these commodities for daily life. The worldwide push for more sustainable practices has resulted in a push for battery-powered items which require the use of lithium; however, the process of mineral extraction significantly alters local groups’ viewpoints regarding their culture, land, and resources within the Lithium Triangle of South America.
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- Storage and Transfer Technologies, “Lithium Extraction and Refining Technology,” STT Systems, 2022, https://www.sttsystems.com/industries/lithium-extraction/. ↩
- Romero, Hugo, et al. 2012. “Mining Development and Environmental Injustice in the Atacama Desert of Northern Chile.” Environmental Justice. vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 70–76. doi:10.1089/env.2011.0017. ↩
- Revette, Anna C. 2016. “This Time It’s Different: Lithium Extraction, Cultural Politics and Development in Bolivia.” Third World Quarterly, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 149-168., doi:10.1080/01436597.2015.1131118. ↩
- Sanchez‐Lopez, Maria Daniela. 2019. From a White Desert to the Largest World Deposit of Lithium: Symbolic Meanings and Materialities of the Uyuni Salt Flat in Bolivia. Antipode 51, no. 4. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12539. ↩
- Antofagasta, “Centinela,” Antofagasta PLC, 2022, https://www.antofagasta.co.uk/our-business/mining-division/centinela/. ↩
- Desjardins, Jeff. “The Copper Standard: How Mineral Riches Helped to Shape Chile’s Economic Story.” Visual Capitalist. 2017. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/copper-shape-chile-economic-story/. ↩
- Desjardins “The Copper Standard” Visual Capitalist. 2017. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/copper-shape-chile-economic-story/. ↩
- Brown, Kendall W. 2012. “Chapter 6: The Technological and Social Dimensions of Modern Mining”. A History of Mining in Latin America: From the Colonial Era to the Present. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ProQuest Ebook Central. ↩