Lithium Triangle: Difference between revisions

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The area is thought to hold around 54% of the world's lithium reserves.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://resourceworld.com/lithium-triangle/|title=South America's prospective - The Lithium Triangle|author=Ellsworth Dickson|work=Resource World|access-date=7 December 2019|year=2017}}</ref>

According to ''[[The Economist]]'' Argentina was by November 2022 the country with most ongoing lithium extraction projects; in total 40.<ref name=TheEco22>{{Cite news |title=Argentina could help the world by becoming a big lithium exporter |date=2022-11-15 |access-date=2023-04-21 |worknewspaper=[[The Economist]]|url=https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2022/11/15/argentina-could-help-the-world-by-becoming-a-big-lithium-exporter}}</ref> By one estimate Argentina could displace Chile as the second largest lithium producer by 2027.<ref name=TheEco22/> Similarly, there are estimates that posits Argentina producing 16% of the World's lithium by 2030, instead of the 6% it produced in 2021.<ref name=TheEco22/> Low [[royalty payment]]s when compared to Chile are cited by ''The Economist'' as a particular advantage.<ref name=TheEco22/>

In December 2018 Bolivia signed an agreement with the German company [[ACISA]] for lithium extraction.<ref name=DW2022>{{Cite news |title=Bolivia: el sueño alemán del litio amenaza con derrumbarse |url=https://www.dw.com/es/bolivia-el-sue%C3%B1o-alem%C3%A1n-del-litio-amenaza-con-derrumbarse/a-62118554 |date=2022-06-13 |access-date=2023-04-20 |work=[[Deutsche Welle]] |language=Spanish}}</ref> The cooperation with ACISA was however by June 2022 deemed to have stalled with Bolivia negotiating instead larger lithium projects with Canadian, Chinese and United States companies.<ref name=DW2022/> Since the early 2020s, the Bolivian government has been advocating that the countries in the region organize themselves so that they can influence international trade of [[lithium]], including the creation of an organization similar to [[OPEC]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.celag.org/hacia-una-organizacion-latinoamericana-de-paises-exportadores-de-litio-olpel/|title=Hacia una Organización Latinoamericana de Países Exportadores de Litio (OLPEL)|author=|work=CELAG|access-date=2023-03-26|date=2022-05-23|language=es}}</ref>

All lithium extracted in Chile as of 2023 comes from [[Salar de Atacama]].<ref name=Munita>{{Cite news |title=Control estatal de los salares, negociar con SQM y empresa nacional: Las claves de la estrategia del Gobierno por litio |url=https://www.emol.com/noticias/Economia/2023/04/21/1092883/claves-politica-nacional-litio.html |last=Munita C. |first=Ignacia |date=2023-04-21 |access-date=2023-04-21 |work=[[El Mercurio|Emol]] |language=Spanish}}</ref> The only two lithium-extracting companies currently operating in Chile, [[Sociedad Química y Minera|SQM]] and [[Albemarle Corporation|Albemarle]], have licences to extract lithium until 2030 and 2043 respectively.<ref name=Munita/><ref name=exante21>{{Cite news |title=Las razones del desplome bursátil de SQM tras el anuncio presidencial del litio |url=https://www.ex-ante.cl/las-razones-del-desplome-bursatil-de-sqm-tras-el-anuncio-presidencial-del-litio/ |last=Browne R. |first=Vicente |date=2023-04-21 |access-date=2023-04-21 |work=[[Ex-Ante (online newspaper)|Ex-Ante]] |language=Spanish}}</ref> In April 2023 Chilean government announced plans for nationalizing its lithium industry.<ref name=reuternat21>{{Cite news |title=Chile plans to nationalize its vast lithium industry |url=https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/chile-plans-nationalize-its-vast-lithium-industry-2023-04-21/ |lastlast1=Villegas |firstfirst1=Alexander |date=2023-04-21 |access-date=2023-04-21 |work=Reuters |last2=Scheyder |first2=Ernest}}</ref> The announcement impacts chiefly the companies SQM and Albemarle.<ref name=reuternat21/> In response, the [[Share (finance)|shares]] of SQM in the [[Santiago Stock Exchange]] dropped by 15% during the day, their largest daily drop since September 20, 2022.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Acción de SQM se desploma por política del litio y borra más de US$ 3.300 millones en capitalización bursátil |url=https://www.df.cl/mercados/bolsa-monedas/bolsas-hoy-jaidx |lastlast1=Pescio |firstfirst1=Benjamín |date=2023-04-21 |access-date=2023-04-22 |work=[[Diario Financiero]] |last2=Arvelo |first2=María C.|language=Spanish}}</ref> The government's decision was thought to have less impact for Albemarle than for SQM given that it had many more years to negotiate before its licence expire.<ref name=exante21/> The state-owned copper company [[Codelco]] was commissioned by the government to negotiate nationalization with SQM.<ref name=exante21/>

The indigenous inhabitants of Salar de Atacama basin –the [[Atacama people|Likan Antay]]– have a history of both opposing lithium extraction and negotiating for [[shared benefits]] with lithium companies.<ref name=Lorca/> Negotiations occur under the framework of the [[Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989|Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention]] which Chile signed in 2008.<ref name=Lorca/> It is argued that "[a]greements between Indigenous organizations and lithium companies have brought significant economic resources for community development, but have also expanded the mining industry's capacity for social control in the area."<ref name=Lorca>{{Cite journal |title=Mining indigenous territories: Consensus, tensions and ambivalences in the Salar de Atacama |journal=The Extractive Industries and Society |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214790X22000053 |lastlast1=Lorca |firstfirst1=Mauricio |volume=9 |last2=Olivera Andrade |first2=Manuel |doi=10.1016/j.exis.2022.101047 |year=2022 |last3=Escosteguy |first3=Melisa |last4=Köppel |first4=Jonas |last5=Scoville-Simonds |first5=Morgan |last6=Hufty |first6=Marc|page=101047 |s2cid=246456703 }}</ref>

==See also==