Chilean Salt Flat Lithium Extraction Threatens Local Ecosystems and Flamingos
An excerpt from Thea Riofrancos's book published by Icon Books examines the Atacama salt flats in Chile, which hold nearly one-quarter of the world's lithium reserves. The author details how lithium mining through brine evaporation impacts the polyextreme desert environment, threatening underground water systems, local Indigenous communities, and declining populations of endemic flamingos.
Key points
- The Atacama salt flats in Chile contain nearly one-quarter of the world's lithium reserves.
- Lithium brine extraction uses a process of pumping underground liquid to surface evaporation ponds over 10 to 24 months.
- Mining operations, noise, traffic, and climate change contribute to declining populations among all three of the salt flat's endemic flamingo species.
- The author argues that achieving a just energy transition requires exploring alternatives to car use, encouraging compact batteries, and promoting recycling to reduce mining scale.
What Happened
In an excerpt from 'Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism' by Thea Riofrancos, the author examines the extraction of lithium in the Atacama desert in northern Chile. The region contains nearly one-quarter of the world's lithium reserves suspended in subsurface brine deposits.
Miners pump the underground brine to large surface evaporation ponds to concentrate the lithium levels. While this low-cost process supplies essential material for rechargeable batteries and the global energy transition, it introduces severe environmental pressures.
Context
The Atacama salt flat is a high-altitude endorheic basin where water flows in but escapes only through evaporation. This hydrological cycle naturally concentrated lithium over time, making it an economical location for mining corporations.
However, the surrounding polyextreme environment supports delicate ecosystems, including bacteria, phytoplankton, brine shrimp, and endemic flamingos. Researchers report that all three endemic flamingo species are in decline due to multiple compounding factors, including warmer temperatures from climate change and the noise and traffic of mining operations.
What's Next
The report suggests that addressing the challenges of green capitalism requires rethinking supply chains from consumption back to material inputs. Policy alternatives such as promoting non-car transit, reducing urban sprawl, encouraging compact batteries, and enforcing recycling could decrease the overall demand for raw material extraction.
Why it matters
The lithium extraction in the Atacama highlights the tension between global climate action and local environmental protection, serving as a prominent case study in the extractive frontiers of green capitalism.
What we know
- The Atacama salt flats contain nearly one-quarter of the world's lithium reserves.
- Brine extraction involves pumping subsurface water to surface evaporation ponds over a period of 10 to 24 months.
