The open veins of Bolivia's lithium powering the world
JUNE 11 2017
Bostjan Videmsek
On a clear day and from afar, Salar de Uyuni looks like a colossal mirage. From up close, it looks nothing less than a miracle. But it may not remain that way for long.
Along the salt lake's southern rim, industrial machines roar. Hundreds of heavy trucks are coming and going over the salty crust, wheezing like exhausted beasts, some 40 years old. Diesel fumes permeate the crisp mountain air. In their wake, the trucks leave perfect brown lines in the virginal whiteness, making the lake's scores of square kilometres look like a giant bowl of cafe latte.
Vehicle tracks scar the Salar de Uyuni. Photo: Matjaz Krivic
The workers are drilling the salt with humungous rigs, aiming for the brine beneath. Lodged under enormous quantities of magnesium and potassium lies their goal: lithium, the essential power source for all the world's gadgets, the key component to fuel the entire 21st century.
Visually, the rape of the extremely delicate landscape could hardly be any more brutal.
More:
http://www.theage.com.au/world/lithium-bolivia-20170523-gwb8me.html
