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Recent debates around green extractivism have highlighted the negative socio-ecological consequences that come with the increased extraction of critical minerals like cobalt or lithium needed for green technologies such as batteries for electric vehicles (EVs). However, limited attention has been paid to the prices and pricing of these minerals. This article assesses the global lithium market and lithium extraction in Chile, where much of the global lithium reserves are located and shows how the current pricing system in the lithium market is greatly contested. Current pricing mechanisms lack transparency and are linked to different interests of powerful institutions, like the London Metal Exchange (LME) or Price Reporting Agencies (PRAs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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'Environment, Social and Governance' (ESG) considerations have received increasing attention as components that inform responsible investments in mining and global material supply. In ESG, governance variables have been mostly regarded as internal firm structures and broad national institutional strength, neglecting closer observations on economic regulation and national raw material politics. Improved governance data to support ESG evaluations should include historical and current relations between public governance bodies and private-sector firms. This paper examines the role of competition regulation agencies in weighing out and mediating relations between the State and multinational private-sector mining firms to unpack components that affect governance in mining. It does so by commenting on empirical data of the purchase held in 2018 of SQM shares—the world's second largest lithium raw materials supplier—by Tianqi Lithium—one of the largest lithium materials producers in China. The paper discusses the place of equity markets in politics of nation-making and economic regulation in mining. It argues that beyond internal corporate structures, the governance criteria in the ESG profile of mining companies are largely affected by domestic economic regulation maturity, domestic political geography histories of private equity and imageries of corporate shares and natural resources. Furthermore, this paper argues that the effective governance of lithium supply in Chile is affected by political tensions between economic regulation and contractual regimes in mining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between lithium mining and the environmental-social aspects of mining in the countries of the lithium triangle by analysing scientific research works and available statistical data, and applying economic theory to green extractivism. We investigate whether the countries of the lithium triangle meet the criteria of the theory of green extractivism. In the context of the theory of green extractivism, we include Bolivian and Argentine regions as sacrifice zones while Chile is relatively successfully building renewable energy sources. In all three countries, we detected the socio-environmental impacts of lithium mining, the most serious problem being the right to water and the threat to the poorest regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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• The present global cobalt and lithium cycles are mapped using material flow analysis. • Highly concentrated reserves and supply chains raise concerns of supply chain security. • Overseas investment through multinational companies may reduce national supply risks. • Companies seek back- and forward vertical integration to enhance business value. • Governmental and company cooperation are key to secure cobalt and lithium supply chain. The potential shortages of critical materials such as cobalt and lithium induced by the global e-mobility transition have recently raised enormous concerns. Here, we map the global cobalt and lithium material flows and discuss their supply risks at both country and company levels. We demonstrate highly concentrated supply chains for cobalt and lithium, especially in the production (69 % of cobalt in DRC and 80 % of lithium in Australia and Chile), refining (over half in China), and for cathode materials and cell production (by Eastern Asian countries). The top 10 companies control around 80 % of global mining and refining production. Overseas investments, particularly by multinational companies, may potentially decrease supply chain concentration. Many upstream companies engage in vertical integration to enhance business value, whereas downstream companies invest in mining or refining operations for a reliable supply. Achieving supply chain security for cobalt and lithium requires transparent international trading systems, responsible sourcing practices, and enhanced recycling. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The Salar de Atacama in northern Chile hosts the biggest lithium reserves globally. However, concerns have arisen regarding the environmental impact of lithium extraction on its basin; in particular, the possible drought of its lagoons that sustain unique natural ecosystems. This investigation implemented an image processing and statistical methodology to assess the area evolution and dynamic behavior of these main water bodies between 1986 and 2018. Results showed that these lagoon systems have not presented significant changes despite increasing lithium production, even for the years of large brine extraction. The analysis indicated that the total surface area of the lagoons varied within a restricted range at 95% confidence level: on average, of the total area covered by these systems 0.03% could have been lost or 0.01% could have been gained per year. Moreover, a multivariate analysis indicated that brine extraction did not have a negative impact on the evolution of the surface areas of the lagoons during the last three decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the drive for global electrification proceeds, new pressures are placed on agrarian environments in areas abundant in key minerals for electric batteries. The so-called lithium triangle between Chile, Argentina and Bolivia is one of those places. We develop an account of the 'assemblages of extractivism' at work in this zone that operate at a material, institutional and discursive level. Drawing on fieldwork from the region and conceptualized using different strands of political ecology and political economy, we explore how the construction of a commodity, the materiality of lithium and the role of the state intersect with local understandings and engagements with this latest form of 'renewable extractivism'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changing environmental data analytics modify perceptions and policies on resources, particularly in terms on mining legitimisations. Enhanced data products are critical for improved planning and execution of extractive activities. Improved data in the mining industry tends to increase definitions and scale levels thus segregating environmental features from each other. This tends to be in conflict with local contingent appreciations of resources and their interactions with broader environmental features and conditions. Data scales and availabilities influence which resource perception dominates and so how mining is justified or antagonised successfully. This paper contributes to discussions that explore resource materialities from analyses of lithium mining. It focuses on the Atacama Salt Flat in contexts of lithium mining and material metrics, and separates itself from focuses on global availability of reserves by taking a narrower discussion on chemical differences that contour abundancy, variety and rarity of materials. This paper is based on fieldwork conducted in 2019 in Chile. It presents the current state of social appreciations on lithium materialities in and around places of extraction in Chile. Centrally, it unpacks an analysis of the social values of lithium and sets grounds for thinking about how a social value of a material becomes prevalent over other social values, particularly in contexts of global material needs and local environmental change for climate change mitigation solutions. • Affordances of data products on the Atacama Salt Flat sustain social values that favour lithium extraction. • Legitimisations to extract materials in the global south benefit from data products that increase metrics and categories of materials. • Contestations to lithium mining in San Pedro de Atacama use dominant discourses that better sustain extraction. • Environmental policy-making need to scrutinise data products from the outset of social values. • Data-driven responsible material sourcing should integrate social value assessments • There is no clear-cut definition of social value respective to the environment and progress on its understanding is context and place specific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lithium extractive industry is expanding, as technological and economic shifts associated with climate change mitigation goals drive global demand for lithium-ion batteries. This article explores the case of the 'Lithium Triangle', a region of Latin America (spanning Bolivia, Chile and Argentina) that contains the world's largest reserves, and where environmental conflicts associated with lithium mining have proliferated. Emphasising the centrality of discourse in resource governance, we analyse the discursive strategies employed by institutional actors seeking to promote and render acceptable lithium extraction in the region. We argue that such strategies reproduce imaginaries of prosperity and modernisation long attached to oil and mineral wealth, while at the same time introducing a novel association of mining with high-tech industries, 'green jobs' and 'climate-friendly' extraction, seeking to obscure the social and ecological costs of lithium production. This inaugurates an era of 'green extractivism', whereby intensive resource exploitation is framed not only as compatible with climate change, but indeed as necessary to its mitigation. Our findings contribute to ongoing conversations regarding post-fossil fuel 'transitions', by highlighting the contradictory character of mitigation strategies that rely on mineral-intensive development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world strives to replace fossil fuels with clean energy e reflected by global surge in the number of electric vehicles e the environmental impact of mining all the lithium (Li) needed to enable such a transformation has become a problem in its own right. In South America, the biggest problem is the excessive use of water in Li extraction process in one of the driest areas in the world. Apart from causing severe friction over water rights between local communities and mining companies, it puts enormous pressure on the region's fragile and poorly understood wetland ecosystems. Wetlands are one of the most threatened ecosystems on the Earth, despite their great importance as habitats for a vast number of species and corresponding to one of the most productive environments. Present work is the outcome of an investigation on Laguna Santa Rosa's (LSR) vulnerability resulting from ongoing metal mining operations in its surroundings that require a large volume of water extracted from local aquifers, in addition to a high evaporation rate in the area. This groundwater-dependent wetland will soon be further vulnerable with the commencement of water-intensive Li mining at Salar de Maricunga, with the extraction project already having an environmental impact study approved. Sustainability of this wetland protected under the Ramsar Convention and home to numerous wildlife species habiting this highland sector of the Andean Cordillera is vital for the associated ecosystems. The variation in the water surface area of LSR has been deciphered through the application of a Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper (TM) satellite image collection. This has been done both for the hydrological year 2016e2017 and 1993-2014 period. A decreasing trend in the water surface area of LSR, a hypersaline lake at the southern extreme of Salar de Maricunga, a salt flat in the Atacama Region of Chile, was observed through the study of satellite images between 1993 and 2014, showing shrinking of this wetland. However, this shrinking trend was punctuated by extreme rainfall and consequent flood with accumulated precipitation exceeding 40 mm in a single day and hourly mean rainfall rates higher than 10 mm/h recorded at several locations in the hyperarid Atacama Desert on March 25, 2015. This raised the lake's water level, and thus the areal extent of the lake water observed in the satellite images of the 2016e2017 hydrological year following the extreme weather events of 2015. The interplay of such extreme weather events and groundwater extraction for mining activities in the area complicates the assessment of the latter's effect on LSR, as the evaluation is constrained to the intervals between successive extreme weather events. In addition, the water level increases in summer because of the thawing of the snow. Close monitoring of the wetlands like LSR is essential to ensure their sustainability by considering both anthropic and climatic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Lithium battery materials can be advantageously used for the selective sequestration of lithium ions from natural resources, which contain other cations in high excess. However, for practical applications, this new approach for lithium production requires the battery host materials to be stable over many cycles while retaining the high lithium selectivity. Here, a nearly symmetrical cell design was employed to show that LiFePO4 shows good capacity retention with cycling in artificial lithium brines representative of brines from Chile, Bolivia and Argentina. A quantitative correlation was identified between brine viscosity and capacity degradation, and for the first time it was demonstrated that the dilution of viscous brines with water significantly enhanced capacity retention and rate capability. The electrochemical and X‐ray diffraction characterisation of the cycled electrodes also showed that the high lithium selectivity was preserved with cycling. Raman spectra of the cycled electrodes showed no signs of degradation of the carbon coating of LiFePO4, while scanning electron microscopy images showed signs of particle cracking, thus pointing towards interfacial reactions as the cause of capacity degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A natural laboratory with potential lithium source rocks, surface geothermal manifestations, and a salt flat with a hypersaline lake to evaluate the role of the geothermal system from source to sink in a closed basin. • Evaluation of the effectiveness of thermal water in leaching and transportation of lithium from source rocks to the salt flat. • Comparison of the lithium contribution to the salt flat from thermal and non-thermal sources. • Effect of climate, altitude, and extent of the geothermal system on the applicability of geothermometry and lithium enrichment of brine in the salt flats. The association between geothermal fluids and lithium-rich brines in salt flats has been evaluated in a unique natural laboratory in the Chilean Andes. The area encompasses Laguna Verde (LV), a hypersaline lake, and a salt flat (salar) within a closed basin surrounded by volcanoes. The predominant lithology consists of andesitic-dacitic rocks, with limited occurrences of rhyolitic rocks. The LV geothermal system exhibits surface manifestations, including over 20 hot springs reaching 47 °C along the lake's southern margin. The upflow zone is represented by the fumarolic field in the Nevado Ojos del Salado volcano, 25 km southwest of LV. Lithium concentrations range from 2.76 to 4.46 mg/L in thermal water and 0.59 to 0.76 mg/L in the Peñas Blancas river water, which feeds into LV after passing through a volcanic environment rich in lithium-bearing rocks. However, the thermal waters contribute over six times more lithium than non-thermal waters, highlighting their significance in releasing and transporting lithium from the source rocks to its eventual accumulation in LV. This natural laboratory at LV provides an excellent opportunity to evaluate the association between geothermal fluids and lithium-rich brines, offering valuable insights into the processes involved in lithium enrichment in similar geological and climatic conditions in other geographic areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographical research on lithium and other renewable energy materials explores the geopolitical dimensions of resource supply and the 'new geographies' associated with an expanding resource frontier. The material characteristics and environmental conditions of lithium production, however, are largely overlooked in this perspective. In the context of a global speculative boom for lithium linked to its growing role in energy storage, this paper adopts a grounded, exploratory approach to investigate the dynamics of production and resource management at one of the world's most significant sources of lithium: the brine deposits of the Atacama Salt Flat/Salar de Atacama in northern Chile. We show how lithium production from brine has a distinctive 'eco-regulatory' character as it involves managing a series of hydrogeological conditions and physical processes that are largely external to capital. The paper highlights the infrastructures (pumps, pipes, ponds) associated with the harvesting of lithium from brine and examines how production on the salar generates a series of ecological contradictions (notably around water depletion) with potential to disrupt accumulation. We also examine the multiple flexibilities afforded by the eco- regulatory character of production, and show how these enable lithium producers to adapt fixed infrastructures to dynamic political economic conditions. By focusing on both contradictions and flexibilities of lithium production, the paper draws attention to trajectories of capitalisation in the lithium value chain and their environmental consequences; and considers the political-economic incentives shaping further capitalisation. The paper concludes by considering the implications of this exploratory case study for critical resource geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The concept of "Saline Domain in Northern Chile" is defined and described as a result of the combination of geological, geomorphological and climatic/paleoclimatic factors. These determine that in the Norte Grande region of Chile (18°-27°South Lat.) the presence of salts has a wide distribution in soils, sedimentary sequences, evaporitic basins, underground and surface waters and in dynamic fogs. The majority presence of chlorides, sulfates, carbonates, borates, and other rather unusual salts in Nature such as nitrates, iodates, chromates, dichromates, chlorates and perchlorates is recognized. This Saline Domain includes the formation of some of the main deposits of Industrial Minerals in Chile as in the case of nitrates and iodine, salt, lithium and other subordinates such as those of borates and potassium. The geological, geomorphological and climatic/paleoclimatic settings, the role of salts as weathering and erosion agents and the main Industrial Minerals saline ore deposits are described. The importance of these saline environments is recognized as an exceptional habitat for a varied microbiota with great biotechnological potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With lithium demand soaring for application in technology, it is vital to understand how states with lithium deposits can attract investment for extraction. Since the "lithium triangle" countries hold much of the world's lithium reserves, they serve as greatly contrasting case studies regarding lithium output. This research explains how policy differences in these three countries have resulted in differing output and industry development. Data are collected from investment reports, semi‐structured interviews, and surveys with insiders, finding two primary policy considerations. First, policy transparency and uniformity explain variation in investment and thus output. Unclear rules greatly deter investment, even when the resource is abundant. Then, property protections from state expropriation ensure these investments are secure and are more likely to attract investment and development. These findings have implications for emerging natural resource industries around the world and for those with geopolitical interests in securing access to critical resources. Related Articles: De Lombaerde, Philippe. 2015. "The Political Economy of Trade Protection in Colombia." Politics & Policy 43 (6): 855‐886. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12140 Villanueva Ulfgard, Rebecka. 2019. "Mexico's Struggle with Development between Global Compromises and National Development Plans." Politics & Policy 47 (1): 50‐78. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/polp.12288 Wise, Carol, and Cintia Quiliconi. 2007. "China's Surge in Latin American Markets: Policy Challenges and Responses." Politics & Policy 35 (3): 410‐438. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2007.00067.x [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the importance of lithium as a key mineral in the energy transition towards a low-carbon future. There is undoubtedly a myriad of topics that can be explored within this statement. At this stage the intention is just to provide an overview of some of the most relevant technical, geopolitical and legal challenges faced by the countries in the Lithium Triangle within a first attempt to present them in a clear and straightforward way. This article provides a starting point in the analysis of lithium as one of the critical minerals for the future of our world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the economic fortunes of the Chilean lithium industry over the past three decades and considers its likely future directions. When SQM commissioned its brine extraction facilities in the Salar de Atacama in 1995, joining the already established SCL (operating since 1984), Chile emerged as the world's leading lithium producer. It retained this position until 2013 when Australian production surpassed it. Chile, Australia and Argentina now dominate the early stages of the lithium industry. Four multinational companies—Albemarle, SQM, FMC Corporation and Tianqi Lithium—accounted for more than 83% of world lithium output in 2016. These firms appear to exert considerable market power. Against this background, we outline and assess recent developments in the Chilean lithium sector, noting that the second Bachelet government (in office from 2014 to early 2018) convened a year-long National Lithium Commission in 2014. The members of this group suggested strategies to maintain and enhance Chile's competitive advantage in the lithium sector. The final section considers the implementation of these in the light of the election of the second Piñera administration which took office in March 2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Lithium Triangle is an emerging and underexplored global extraction hotspot. • Logistics infrastructures create historical–geographical preconditions for resource extraction. • Corridor urbanism is a critical tool for the analysis of expanding resource frontiers. • Corridor urbanism relies upon layered genealogies and multiple temporalities. Since 2015, the Atacama region has emerged as the Lithium Triangle, a global hotspot for lithium extraction marked by the establishment of new mines and the expansion of existing ones. Adding to recent studies that document the adverse localized impacts of this booming economy, in this article I grapple with the layered geographies of logistics infrastructure that have historically enabled and materially sustained the process of resource extraction, probing the co-production of extraction and logistics. I propose to explore this intersection through the notion of corridor urbanism as proposed by Silver (2021) and chart its underexplored aspects in a context of extended urbanization and resource extraction. Through a mobile ethnography along a segment of the lithium trade's logistical network across the Atacama, I engage with the layered genealogies of three infrastructural elements that have been crucial in the development of this extractive landscape: the upgraded cross-border road and customhouse at Paso de Jama, the recently repaired Huaytiquina railway and the expanded port of Mejillones. Reflecting on these genealogies and their associated dynamics of smoothing, repair and securing, I locate some defining features of corridor urbanism, its extractive dimension, layered temporalities and selective character whereby socioecological wellbeing is unevenly distributed. In conclusion, I argue how a closer engagement with the situated genealogies of corridor urbanism can contribute to a sharper understanding of present and near-future extractive landscapes, especially in the context of a global expansion of resource frontiers and wider technological restructuring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbial life inhabiting hypersaline environments belong to a limited group of extremophile or extremotolerant taxa. Natural or artificial hypersaline environments are not limited to high concentrations of NaCl, and under such conditions, specific adaptation mechanisms are necessary to permit microbial survival and growth. Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile include three large salars (salt flats) which globally, represent the largest lithium reserves, and are commonly referred to as the Lithium Triangle Zone. To date, a large amount of information has been generated regarding chemical, geological, meteorological and economical perspectives of these salars. However, there is a remarkable lack of information regarding the biology of these unique environments. Here, we report the presence of two bacterial strains (isolates LIBR002 and LIBR003) from one of the most hypersaline lithium-dominated man-made environments (total salinity 556 g/L; 11.7 M LiCl) reported to date. Both isolates were classified to the Bacillus genera, but displayed differences in 16S rRNA gene and fatty acid profiles. Our results also revealed that the isolates are lithium-tolerant and that they are phylogenetically differentiated from those Bacillus associated with high NaCl concentration environments, and form a new clade from the Lithium Triangle Zone. To determine osmoadaptation strategies in these microorganisms, both isolates were characterized using morphological, metabolic and physiological attributes. We suggest that our characterization of bacterial isolates from a highly lithium-enriched environment has revealed that even at such extreme salinities with high concentrations of chaotropic solutes, scope for microbial life exists. These conditions have previously been considered to limit the development of life, and our work extends the window of life beyond high concentrations of MgCl2, as previously reported, to LiCl. Our results can be used to further the understanding of salt tolerance, most especially for LiCl-dominated brines, and likely have value as models for the understanding of putative extra-terrestrial (e.g., Martian) life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]