In the northern Chilean town of San Pedro de Atacama, a newly inaugurated water testing laboratory owned by the Atacama Peoples Indigenous Council aims to monitor lithium extraction’s environmental impact. Since 2019, this unique institution has been analyzing reports from lithium companies while promoting community oversight of water quality. Despite agreements ensuring profit-sharing and environmental standards with mining firms, indigenous communities remain skeptical about government plans to expand lithium mining, citing historical neglect and demanding better inclusion in decision-making processes.
In the small northern Chilean town of San Pedro de Atacama, a new laboratory has been inaugurated to analyze water samples. This facility is owned by the Environmental Monitoring Office of the Indigenous Council of Atacama Peoples, which consists of 18 indigenous communities surrounding the Atacama Salt Flat. Lithium-rich brine is extracted from beneath the surface of this salt flat.
The Indigenous Monitoring Office is a unique institution in Chile. Since 2019, this technical and scientific body has been overseeing the reports from lithium companies and conducting its own monitoring and research studies to better understand the environmental system in the Atacama Salt Flat valley.
Francisco Mondaca, the head of the office, states, “The laboratory was established to assist our communities in monitoring water quality and to facilitate our oversight of mining activities.” Water is scarce in the Atacama Desert, and due to natural heavy metal deposits, it is often contaminated with arsenic.
In 2016, indigenous communities signed an agreement with one of the two active mining companies, securing 3.5 percent of profits from lithium sales from the American company Albemarle. The company also committed to regular environmental checks and made the collected data publicly accessible, allowing the communities to decide how to utilize the funds.
Mondaca takes pride in the agreement: “We have raised the standard for mining companies across Latin America.” Two years later, the second company, SQM, reached a similar agreement that established comparable environmental standards and payments to the communities, with funds flowing through the state-owned Industrial Development Corporation.
400 Million Dollars for the Region
Is lithium mining in the Atacama Desert a success story for cooperation with the local population? At least the industry believes so. “We adhere to particularly high national and international sustainability standards,” says Denise Kirschner, in charge of external affairs at SQM, which emerged from the privatizations during the military dictatorship. The main shareholder is still Julio Ponce Lerou, the former son-in-law of dictator Augusto Pinochet. In 2015, the company was involved in one of Chile’s largest corruption scandals, having paid over 14 million dollars in illegal campaign contributions to nearly 300 politicians.
Since then, the company has been working to improve its public image through sustainability initiatives. Kirschner explains that they are continually striving to reduce freshwater consumption and have already cut it to half of the permitted amount, despite increasing production levels. However, the company does not classify the lithium-rich brine as water. When asked about this, Kirschner mentioned plans to reduce brine extraction as well, leveraging new technologies to pump the brine back beneath the salt crust after lithium extraction.
Thanks to payments from lithium mining in the Atacama Salt Flat outlined in the lease agreement with the Chilean government, the budget of the nearby town of San Pedro de Atacama tripled in 2022. Since the update of the lease agreement in 2018, the region has received over 400 million dollars. This funding has supported local communities and indigenous groups, while the central government received 5 billion dollars in royalties and taxes in 2022 alone. Kirschner claims that the activities of SQM benefit the entire region.
Starting in 2025, SQM will advance lithium mining in a public-private partnership with the state copper company Codelco. By 2031, 85 percent of the profits are expected to go directly to the state—a real treasure for the Chilean government. President Gabriel Boric compared lithium in a public speech in 2023 to copper, which has long been one of the state’s main sources of revenue. However, he emphasized that mining should be conducted responsibly with the involvement of indigenous communities.
Negotiations Instead of Confrontation
Despite the profit-sharing agreements, indigenous communities in northern Chile remain skeptical about the government’s plan to significantly expand lithium mining by 2030 and extend it to additional salt flats. In January, indigenous protesters blocked mining trucks on the sandy paths leading across the Atacama Salt Flat for several days, preventing lithium from reaching the port of Antofagasta.
“We were never consulted about lithium extraction here,” says Alexis Romero, president of the Atacama Peoples Council (CPA). Chile’s international treaties require local indigenous communities to be included in the decision-making process. “What separates us is a historically ingrained distrust of the state due to its long-standing absence,” explains Winder Flores, also a member of the CPA board. While the state issued mining licenses, the indigenous people lived without electricity until the 21st century. To this day, the public healthcare system remains inadequate.
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