Lithium mining in Chile is thesecond largest in the world in terms of extraction after it wassurpassed by Australia in 2012.[1][2][A] Chile, like Argentina and Bolivia, is located within theLithium Triangle, an area of South America that houses the largest known reserves of lithium on the planet. Likewise,Chilean mining leads the world in the extraction of lithium through an evaporation process frombrines with high concentrations of this mineral, unlike Australian mining, which extracts it mainly fromhard rocks.[4][5][B] Estimates show that Chile is expected to be surpassed also by Argentina and China in lithium production by 2030.[3] Industry analystGustavo Lagos suggests that lithium production in Chile will by 2030 represent be about 8% of the world's total production.[6] Chile has the world's cheapest production costs for lithium and this could be an advantage for mining in Chile oncerecycled lithium enters the market competing with costly mining operations in the future.[7]
Most of Chile's lithium reserves are inSalar de Atacama andSalar de Maricunga,[4] and all lithium extracted in Chile as of 2023 comes from Salar de Atacama.[8] The only two lithium-extracting companies currently operating in Chile,SQM andAlbemarle, have licences to extract lithium until 2030 and 2043 respectively.[8][9] In April 2023 Chilean government announced plans for nationalizing its lithium industry.[10] The state-owned copper companyCodelco was commissioned by the government to negotiate nationalization with SQM.[9]
The National Lithium Strategy (Spanish:Estrategía Nacional del Litio) is a policy of the Chilean state aimed to developlithium extraction –of which Chile currently ranks second in the world– "to increase wealth for the country" and to link "Chile's economic development with the shift towards a global green economy".[11][12] The policy aims to create the following entities, the state-owned mining company National Lithium Company, the Protected Salt Flats Network and the Public Technological and Research Institute of Lithium and Salt Flats.[11] The National Lithium Company and theChilean Economic Development Agency (CORFO) will join to form the Committee on Lithium and Salt Flats.[11]
This policy was announced in 2023 by PresidentGabriel Boric.
