Good News & Bad News, page-984

In news from Chile. There has been an election to a Constitutional Convention to rewrite the Chile Constitution. Over the weekend in the election, the far left won lot's of seats and has people like the following scientist:
DC: Is it possible to exploit lithium without altering the Atacama salt flats?
D: Calculations [that put the share of the world’s lithium reserves found in the Chile-Bolivia-Argentina 'lithium triangle' at 85%] are based on the idea that all the salt flats can be exploited. How is it possible that they want to exploit all the salt flats? They are unique places of biodiversity that have to be preserved and not exploited.
So no, at least not now. Lithium in Chile is contained in brines and the mining code recognises it as a mineral, not as water. There are studies that show that the salt flats will be completely exploited in just 20 years. It is very sad because, again, short-term decisions weigh more heavily. The salt flats have historically been seen as deposits. But the water there is finite and has not been sufficiently valued.
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https://dialogochino.net/en/extractive-industries/42839-cristina-dorador-the-biologist-chile-constitution/
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Why does anybody care? Because if the lithium from Chile is limited or the expansion is stopped, the price of lithium is just going to skyrocket. All the models show lithium needs Chile to double or triple it's production. Yet there is some question if that can happen. All told, I think the production of lithium from Chile is not going to increase like every supply model is projecting. If true, the world is going to need lithium from Australia like never before.