Chile contains some of the largest and highest quality lithium brine resources in the world. This soft, white metal is integral to lithium-ion batteries, which power electric vehicles. And with demand for EVs booming, Chile’s vast salt flats have become a vital national resource. Now, the Chilean President Gabriel Boric has released its long-awaited national lithium policy, which requires private companies to partner with the state to further develop the country’s lithium resources, ushering in a new era for the industry. There are two main producers of lithium in Chile, SQM and Albemarle. CNBC visited the Atacama Desert in Chile to see Albemarle’s lithium mine and processing plant to see what is next for the world’s largest lithium producer.
Chapters:
00:00 — Introduction
03:04 – History of lithium in Chile
07:15 – Politics of mining
12:27 – Opposition and concerns
17:34 – What’s next
Produced, Shot and Narration by: Katie Brigham
Supervising Producer: Jeniece Pettitt
Edited by: Amy Marino
Additional Camera: Shawn Baldwin
Animation: Christina Locopo
Translation: David Calderón, Beatriz Bajuelos Castillo
Senior Production Manager: Kathy Mavrikakis
Additional Footage: Getty Images, Albemarle, Archive.org, Government of Chile
» Subscribe to CNBC: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBC
» Subscribe to CNBC TV: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCtelevision
About CNBC: From ‘Wall Street’ to ‘Main Street’ to award winning original documentaries and Reality TV series, CNBC has you covered. Experience special sneak peeks of your favorite shows, exclusive video and more.
Connect with CNBC News Online
Get the latest news: https://www.cnbc.com/
Follow CNBC on LinkedIn: https://cnb.cx/LinkedInCNBC
Follow CNBC News on Facebook: https://cnb.cx/LikeCNBC
Follow CNBC News on Twitter: https://cnb.cx/FollowCNBC
Follow CNBC News on Instagram: https://cnb.cx/InstagramCNBC
#CNBC
Why Chile’s Lithium Mining Is At A Crossroad
42 Comments
If believe the CNBC crap I have a martian canal you can buy.
With sodium ion batteries here now, why are we still talking as if lithium is the ONLY wAy,,?? Aluminium , graphene or just graphite.. and a sodium battery solution and you have very cheap more sustainable future.. come on sheeple, wake up!
Horribly polluting and nothing green about it. The great “green energy” scam, just like our ejections and the vaxx scam. All of it driven by toxic leftism.
If the lithium producers were to install a reverse-osmosis system to treat the raw brine, perhaps it could be worth t in letting them provide pure water to the local communities, and send the super-concentrated brine to evaporation pans where production cycles would be shortened.
Who can stand in the way, when there's a dollar to be made?
Save the planet…Ooops.
electric cars ARE WORSE FOR THE PLANET.
Why mine it when you can recycle it in a closed loop system #Licycle !
The workers should be paid more. But we must extract the litium in a way so we don't destroy the chilean nature.
Great documentary!! Modern day example of exploration of natural resources. When there blood in the water sharks come out…or where there is money the cockroaches come out…usa, china, etc… of course Latin American politicians will sellout to private American and Chinese companies. The most vulnerable in Chile and worldwide will be after most while the elite profit most. Electric cars are NOT safe for the environment!!!!
Ev's are way to expensive for normal chilean workers. Even the cheapest models.
Because no roundabouts where planned in the design of the site.
Trade one earth destructive resource for another. Humans are destined to ruin this planet.
Where can I translate this? I need to show this to my family and friends
decades from now just think about what it can do to that location's ground water lol. going green with tech is as pollutant as having petroleum industry.
Obviously more research is needed. But from my inexperienced subjective opinion, evaporating underground saltwater in the middle of a desert seems like a relatively harmless mining method at least when compared to the horrific environmental impact of things like strip mining.
Electric cars are still a environmental symbol though
Why is it that Europe and America insist on resources from third rate countries instead of a reliable democracy like Australia? Even the Chinese won’t sanction Australia on critical supplies yet Europe has had punitive trade embargoes on Australia for generations.
The only "demand" for EVs is artificially driven due to Far-Left loonery pushing it on everyone and mandating it like the moronic Biden administration. EVs run on magic and Leftist feelings, so why all the minerals?.
Argentina's lithium deposits are immense.
At 4:03 they talk about demand for lithium batteries being cars, they show a stock video of a Chevy volt, but the battery gauge is reading zero and it's running in gasoline mode 😂
Chile and The United States have been brother countries for more than 200 years now, US companies will continue to operate in Chile. President Boric does not have political power in any of the chambers. Chile wants to join the Union ladies and gentlemen. 🇨🇱 🇺🇲
You could read faster but not sure it's actually possible. Were you in a hurry when you read this? Very nice content though.
Yeah that looks way better for the environment. NOT!
Now it turns out that Chile wanting to protect their interests is a “crossroad” and worrying, nah fam, we good. Do it cleanly, pay what’s due and you all can do business with Chile, not so complicated.
Excelent report. Interesting and well informed.
Well done!
Saludos de Chile 🇨🇱
It's unfortunate I can't invest into Chile as a private investor (of the public market)
I don't understand why these indigenous people are so keen on protecting a desolate area .
The death pits. It’s so bad for the environment
To think, an Element that cures Manic Depression in Humans is the same Element to Battery Power Earth's Economies……
Only Makes Sense if you Concede, Human Consumerism is Manic-Depression!
Wow so environmentally friendly! Not.
american institutes research are joke, all funded by big corporates….
La decisión es de ustedes gringos, Chile no necesita tener un parque automotriz eléctrico para garantizar un mercado interno de baterías de litio porque ese mercado interno lo absorbe con creces la industria minera del cobre.
Si ustedes construyen una planta de fabricación de baterías de litio en Chile ganamos todos. Si ustedes siguen con su mentalidad de impedir el desarrollo industrial y tecnológico en Chile lo harán los chinos y Chile ganará igual pero ustedes llorarán.
Chile has large lithium reserves, it is close to everything, it is not a threat to the United States, but Elon Musk doesn't care and builds his mega battery factory in China!!
Great move Elon!! 😂
note how all of the vehicles or pumps are powered by internal combustion engines 😀
Why everything we need comes with such big cost… its like we are always being tested on what is really important. I sometimes wonder, how would a life without so much tech would be, would it be better… worst…
The number of ill-informed people in the comments is staggering. Are you aware of how bad lithium mining is for the environment?! I expect this kind of propaganda from CNBC, but the general public should know better than to believe everything they hear. Wake up people!
scale for infinite – there is a billion cars and a million ships in need of batteries
Amazing documentary
See what so called greening the earth does? It kills it even quicker than coal and oil ever can. Or you looking? Are you seeing? What will it take before the world realises that a minority are becoming very rich out of all the scaremongering.
Looks like a better way. Thanks hippies!😂
here we go again.. extracting stuff from the earth without fully understanding its purpose. The salt in the underground reservoirs have a purpose. And the minute we've extracted all of it is typically the minute we come to realize not only the errors in our action but it becomes undeniably clear what damage we have caused. Temperature rise is not solely due to the burning of fossil fuels, but also the sheer extraction of oil from the earths crust. The oil is the catalyst that distributes and contains the heat of the inner earths crust. no different than how oil functions in a car. The earth crust moves creating friction creating heat, and oil servers to lower the friction thus lowering that heat. We call ourselves intelligent beings but for all our advancements we've find that we disrupt the nature of things. ever further damaging the planet. Clean energy via nuclear.. until theirs a meltdown. clean energy via lithium but the manufacturing process is far more dirty than ice produced cars. and oh. btw.. what do we do with spent fuel rods and dead batteries? so much for clean.