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The '''Lithium Triangle''' ({{lang-es|Triángulo del Litio}}) is a region of the [[Andes]] that is rich in [[lithium]] reserves, encompassed by the borders of [[Argentina]], [[Bolivia]], and [[Chile]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Anlauf |first1=Axel |editor-last1=Pichler |editor-first1=Melanie|editor-last2=Staritz |editor-first2=Cornelia |editor-last3=Küblböck |editor-first3=Karin |editor-last4=Plank |editor-first4=Christina |editor-last5=Raza |editor-first5=Werner |editor-last6=Ruiz Peyré |editor-first6=Fernando |date=2016 |chapter=Greening the imperial mode of living? Socio- ecological (in)justice, electromobility, and lithium mining in Argentina |title=Fairness and Justice in Natural Resource Politics }}</ref> The lithium in the triangle is concentrated in various [[salt pan (geology)|salt pans]] that exist along the [[Atacama Desert]] and [[Arid Diagonal|neighboring arid areas]], the largest areas including [[Salar de Uyuni]] in Bolivia, [[Salar de Atacama]] in Chile, and [[Salar del Hombre Muerto]] in Argentina. Of those [[Salar de Atacama]] in [[Chile]] has the highest concentration lithium (0.15 % by weight) among all World's brine sources.
 
As of 2017 the area was 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> Nevertheless, these lithium reserves, which are the largest is size and the highest in quality in the World, are not expected to make the surrounding countries wealthy, as oil made [[Gulf Countries]]. For example, the total amount of lithium minerals in [[Chile]] is worth "less than Saudi Arabia's threeethree years' worth of oil exports."<ref>Lithium: The Global Race for Battery Dominance and the New Energy Revolution. 2021. L. Bednarski. ISBN: 1787386732 . p. 97. https://oceanofpdf.com/authors/lukasz-bednarski/pdf-epub-lithium-the-global-race-for-battery-dominance-and-the-new-energy-revolution-download/?id=000715884250</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 |newspaper=[[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 positsposit 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>