Lithium: the fever of "white gold", fortune or misfortune for Argentina?

In northwestern Argentina, the Altiplano road zigzags at a vertiginous altitude of 4,000 meters. It is a landscape of colossal lava cliffs, volcanic cones and deep ravines.

Giant cacti protrude from cracks in the rocks and rise to the immensity of the blue sky.

Frightening vicuñas, close to the flame, move away from the traffic with their fragile limbs. And on the crest of the mountain, you can see a vast and blinding extension of something magically white: the rich lithium basin of Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc.

The handmade poster that greets visitors leaves no doubt: "No lithium."

Argentina, along with Bolivia and Chile, has one of the largest lithium reserves in the world.

"Lithium for today, hunger for tomorrow"

Earlier this year, the Canadian mining company involved in exploration activities left the region after protesters blocked the main road through the salt plains.

"Lithium for today, hunger for tomorrow", activists say.

"For us, Salinas Grandes is like a sacred mother," he says. Veronica Chavezwho is the president of his people, Sanctuary of Tres Pozos, one of the 33 indigenous communities in this region, mostly located in Jujuy province.

"We have to respect her because she takes care of me, my family and my children, and she took care of my ancestors. we feel a deep respect towards this environment, there is no place for the exploitation of lithium ".

It is one of the driest regions on the planet.

Thus, beyond the cultural and spiritual links that Aboriginal peoples have with the salt works, the demand for fresh water is of great concern.

"We know that lithium companies use millions and millions of liters of fresh water," Chávez said. "What will happen to our animals, our lives, those of our grandchildren in the future?"

Lithium mining in Argentina requires deep drilling in the salt cellar to reach the brine (saturated salt water) containing the mineral that powers our cell phones, our computers and our electric cars.

The salt water is pumped into huge surface pools and allowed to evaporate for months, giving a rich lithium solution.

Freshwater is then used to produce and extract lithium carbonate, the white powder exported abroad to the battery manufacturing plants from this solution.

To drive a Tesla Model S electric car, it takes 45 kg of lithium carbonate.

And to produce a ton of lithium carbonate – depending on the installation – about half a million liters of brine are evaporated and used 30,000 liters of fresh water.

More money, less water

Unlike the confrontation between communities and the mining industry in Salinas Grandes, two hours westbound car towards the border with Chile, is the Olaroz Cauchari salar, where lithium is already produced.

Sales de Jujuy, a joint commercial project of the Australian company Orocobre, Japanese Toyota and the mining company of the provincial government of Jujuy, is one of the two active mines in Argentina.

Last year, the plant produced about 14,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate. In terms of freshwater only, the plant could have used the equivalent of More than 150 olympic pools.

Some residents of the area have noticed a change in their water supply since the arrival of the miners.

"There is a lot less water in the wells and the irrigation canals. We are concerned"says Tomasa Soriano who raises goats and occupies 97 llamas.

Soriano lives in Huáncar, a small town with dirt roads and buildings mainly rammed around the immense whiteness of Olaroz Cauchari.

Lithium has contributed a lot economic improvement to these communities, which live in one of the most under-appreciated regions of Argentina.

Soriano's husband works for a mining exploration company. But when she does not work at the local school, does not take care of her five children or her animals, she must also learn how to use water.

"We may have less water because of climate change," she says. "But we also suspect that the lithium industry, the miners, use a lot of fresh water."

Argentine environmental activists support Soriano's suspicions.

The theory is that when the brine is pumped under the salt, the freshwater sides of the pond will gravitate to fill the space left by the brine extracted, so that it will remain less water for crops, animals and humans.

"Even if the information we have is incomplete, we believe that the data shows that damage has already been caused.What we do not know, is the extent of this damage," said Pia Marchegiani, director of environmental policy at the foundation for the environment and natural resources. (RNA)

The FARN report is based on public data from mining companies active in Jujuy. L & # 39; NGOs asked that all new lithium production be stopped.

"We have a principle in environmental law called precautionary principle, which says that there is not enough scientific information, or if the literature does not fit the impacts Probably, there should be no reason to be inactive.You must act in advance, "he says. Marchegiani

Opposing opinions

The mining secretary of the provincial government of Jujuy is dissatisfied with this problem.

"The FARN study is a pure chatter"said Miguel Soler with contempt.

"We have not yet seen any impact on water resources or wildlife, in fact the number of vicuñas and flamingos has increased in the region," he said.

"We have more than 10 years of monitoring and sampling data on water quality, and we have many wells that control the depth of the water. companies and the government examines it. "

Your answer highlights the lack of independent investigations About freshwater resources.

"This is one of the biggest problems," said Victoria Flexer, professor of electrochemistry at the University of Jujuy and director of an interdisciplinary lithium working group. .

And with the Argentine economy on the verge of disaster in the face of national elections, it is unlikely that there will be money for an impartial study.

"In Argentina, the provinces that have lithium are among the poorest in the country "said Flexer.

"Thus, on the one hand, these provincial governments do not have qualified human resources to carry out careful monitoring, and on the other hand, their economies become highly dependent on the presence of lithium companies, which create work." .

Regarding the water problem, he is skeptical about the report of FARN, the environmental NGO.

"I have not seen solid figures," she says. "Allowing the drying of a small freshwater course to the mining industry is something that can not be tested or disproved in one yearbecause in the lakes and rivers of the desert, they sometimes dry naturally. "

"We need measurements over at least five years to be absolutely certain, the variability is due to the extraction of lithium and not just the variation in rainfall."

Water and its savings remain a priority for your team. She is working on a method of lithium recovery by electrochemistry.

"We believe that We could produce freshwater parallel to lithium carbonate. It could be like a secondary product, and we could send that water to communities. "

The disadvantage of this technique is that it uses electricity, which makes it much more expensive than the current method of extraction of lithium, which depends on the sun to evaporate brine, rich in minerals.

And at a time when the price of this mineral fell In international markets, the industry has not yet started.

However, some private companies have developed other techniques to produce lithium, which also use less fresh water.

"Once the brine is pumped, we put it in a column of water for a few hours.There are small granules the size of half a grain of rice. These granules extract lithium from the water "says Steve Promnitz, managing director of Lake Resources, an Australian exploration company in Olaroz Cauchari, which aims to begin production in 2023.

"After two hours, we return that water to the aquifer – it's exactly the same thing, but without lithium, and then you can treat that concentrated product and turn it into a lithium product."

Both methods avoid the use of huge evaporation pools, reduce the environmental footprint.

But in the Salinas Grandes basin and in the Guayatayoc lagoon, where lithium exploration has been halted since the February protests, Verónica Sánchez is not impressed.

"We will no longer allow mining herehe said firmly.

And unlike the region of Olaroz Cauchari, where people did not have many options to improve their economic prospects before the arrival of lithium companies, the communities of Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc have a solid business relationship with salar.

Many tourists taking selfies visit them every day. There are stalls selling carved salt treats while women roast empanadas stuffed with llama meat. And there is an income from the traditional salt collection.

AIS Resources, the Canadian company dedicated to the exploration of lithium when demonstrations took place, He did not want to be interviewed by the BBC.

In any case, nine months later, The deadlock continues. This is the reason why none of the lithium companies with concessions to Salinas Grandes and Laguna Guayatayoc can work there.

"The Jujuy government is totally open to discussion," said Soler. "We respect the community, but at the same time, we must respect the law."

He states that exploration will continue.

In 2017, we were three million electric vehicles on the roads around the world. And the International Energy Agency has forecast an increase of nearly 125 million by 2030.

Steve Promnitz compares the change from the transport revolution to that of the early twentieth century.

"In 1910, nobody could see it, and in the 1920s, no one had ever imagined using horses, and that's what happens to electric cars powered by lithium batteries – it's a proven technology."

But Verónica Chavez has a message for drivers who want an electric car to "decarbonize" their lives and contribute to the fight against climate change.

"We also have the right to live in peace, and we should not bear the consequences of those who want to save the planet … because they kill us."