report

Mining in Bolivia Lithium rush in the Andes

As of: 06/20/2021 4:40 p.m.

The largest lithium deposits on earth are believed to be under the Uyuni salt lake in Bolivia. The planned dismantling of the metal, which is important for batteries, raises hopes, but is controversial because of the high water consumption.

By Anne Herrberg, ARD Studio Buenos Aires, and Matthias Ebert, ARD studio Rio de Janeiro

It lies dazzling white between the majestic peaks of the Bolivian Andes, an area nine times the size of Berlin: the Uyuni salt lake. Hidden underneath is a treasure: white gold, lithium, or as Panfilo Huayllas, Mayor of Rio Grande says: “our future”. He demands: “All communities around the salt lake and all Bolivians must benefit from the lithium that is under this salt crust.

Lithium, the lightest metal on earth, is required for lithium-ion batteries. They are not only found in cell phones and laptops, but also in electric cars. Without lithium there is no e-mobility – and nowhere in the world are more reserves believed than here, on the roof of the Andes.

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Bolivia doesn’t just want to be a supplier of raw materials

But Bolivia wants to be more than just a supplier of raw materials. “We local residents have to share in the profits, because we will feel the effects of lithium industrialization here in Rio Grande,” says Mayor Huayllas.

Lithium is said to be a driver for Bolivia’s industrialization. The plan is to build the batteries yourself. Ex-President Evo Morales was once looking for partners for this project – and found them in a German medium-sized company: ACISA from Zimmer ob Rottweil on the edge of the Black Forest. It was a deal of the century. But it burst in 2019 , after the election overshadowed by allegations of fraud and Morales’ flight into exile. Since then, the German-Bolivian project has been on hold.

The lithium deal negotiated by ex-President Morales collapsed in 2019. Image: AFP

Not everyone is enthusiastic about it anyway. Luis Machaca is the spokesman for a citizens’ initiative that opposes the project. “The Germans wanted to mine our raw material behind our backs, with a contract for 70 years,” he says. “They may be a good partner, but they have neither the technical means nor the technology.”

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Lithium mining uses up a lot of precious water

What does mining mean for people, but also for the sensitive ecosystem? It is about the most precious commodity on the roof of the Andes: water.

A look across the border into the Atacama Desert to Chile: SQM has been mining lithium there for 25 years. The brine is pumped up from 40 meters, then evaporates in basins over months until a lithium-containing slag remains. It is a very water-intensive process, of all places in one of the driest regions in the world, says the Chilean biologist Cristina Dorador. “We can see from satellite images over the past 20 years that the soil has lost moisture,” she says. At the same time, the ground is heating up and the vegetation is receding. “These changes are directly related to lithium production over the past 20 years.”

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Water protection should be improved

The company promises to make mining more sustainable. In Chile’s new constitution, on which the biologist Dorador will also be co-writing, environmental and water protection should be a top priority. Local residents like Cristian Toroca remain skeptical. “The company had not previously intended to involve local residents, that bothers us about this group,” he says. “They’re pulling this mineral out of the ground to sell in Europe as a clean product, but that’s a lie.”

In Bolivia it is still unclear who will be awarded the contract: the Germans are competing with Chinese and US companies. Panfilo Huayllas continues to hope that the white gold will bring prosperity to his community. But he too says: not at any price. “Alternative ways of supplying lithium production with water in the future must be found. If they only tap our wells, we will ruin the future of our children.”