Good News & Bad News, page-3472

Chile isn't only brine producer. The Atacama producers may have taken more brine than is sustainable, but there are also competing uses for the aqua in that basin.
The Escondida copper mine (world's largest copper producer) in the Atacama is a prime example of a direct competitor for the resource and their water requirements are massive. There are also competing population uses for drinking water along with a potential biodiversity issue with Flamingo habitats.
In Argentina, the geological formation of the Olaroz Cauchari Salars is different and brine extraction has a minimal impact on fresh water table. Also no competing users for the resource and a lack of biodiversity due to the severe inhospitable to life nature of the Salar.
Over at Salar del Hombre Muerto where Livent operates its Fenix extraction operation, it extracts at a sustainable rate and again has no competing users for the resources.
If anyone is truly interested, even though you may well consider the source biased, I suggest you read the most recent sustainability report released by Orocobre and the extreme efforts they go to in order to ensure they have no or minimal impact on fresh water. They don't even have tailings dams.
http://bit.ly/ORE-Sustain-Report
I understand many think I am just ramping brine over hard rock, but I am trying to clarify some misconceptions.
They each have a purpose and own advantages and will be needed in the future.
I support both brine and hard rock as difficult as that may be for some to understand.