#lithiummining

Chile’s Atacama Desert Faces Growing Strain from Global Lithium Rush

In Chile’s Atacama Desert, once-thriving wetlands are turning to dust as the world’s hunger for lithium—a key ingredient in electric car batteries—continues to surge.

On the Vega de Tilopozo, what was once a lush expanse of green has become a cracked, arid plain. Raquel Celina Rodriguez, a lifelong resident, recalls when the area teemed with vegetation and wildlife. “Before, the Vega was all green. You couldn’t see the animals through the grass. Now everything is dry,” she says, watching llamas graze over the barren land.

Her family, like many others, once relied on the fertile wetlands to raise livestock. But as rainfall dwindled and groundwater receded, survival became harder. The situation worsened, Rodriguez explains, when lithium mining companies began extracting water from beneath the salt flats.

The Atacama holds some of the largest lithium reserves on Earth, essential for powering electric vehicles, smartphones, and renewable energy storage systems. With global demand for lithium skyrocketing, the environmental toll on local ecosystems has intensified.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global lithium consumption rose from 95,000 tonnes in 2021 to 205,000 tonnes by 2024, and is projected to exceed 900,000 tonnes by 2040—driven largely by the electric vehicle industry.

While the metal is critical to the world’s transition toward clean energy, local communities in northern Chile warn that the price is being paid by their land and livelihoods.

You might have already heard about the recent ‘Lithium Boom!’. And that why you wonder what could be the best lithium mining company to invest in? But first what’s a lithium boom? What is it all about? Well, to understand that let me take you back to some history of where this all began.

EVs are better!

Now if you are aware of environmental issues, you might have heard of EVs or Electric Vehicles. Electric Vehicles are the nest big thing that the whole world is tending to prefer in future to battle with the environmental damage, air pollution and public health. Electric Vehicles are supposed to offer the better public health since they reduce the emissions that cause climate change, fog reducing the ecological damage. So, EVs are much better than the gas cars. It’s no surprise that they are becoming mainstream! Not satisfied? well, here are the Top 12 Reasons EVs are better than  Gas Cars