{"id":51403,"date":"2019-12-01T20:08:38","date_gmt":"2019-12-01T19:08:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edu.danwatch.dk\/?post_type=undersgelse&p=51403"},"modified":"2019-12-01T14:19:45","modified_gmt":"2019-12-01T13:19:45","slug":"theres-probably-chilean-lithium-behind-the-screen-youre-reading-this-on","status":"publish","type":"undersgelse","link":"https:\/\/edu.danwatch.dk\/en\/undersoegelse\/theres-probably-chilean-lithium-behind-the-screen-youre-reading-this-on\/","title":{"rendered":"There’s probably Chilean lithium behind the screen you’re reading this on"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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A Danwatch investigation<\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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There’s probably Chilean lithium behind the screen you’re reading this on<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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After Atacama’s brine water has evaporated, lithium-concentrated salt is transported to the Chilean coastal city Antofagasta for the production of lithium carbonate. Subsequently, it is shipped out – mostly for battery manufacturing in South East Asia.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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There is a reason why Chile has been dubbed \u201cthe Saudi Arabia of lithium\u201d. For the past 20 years, the country has accounted for almost 40 percent of the global supply of the silvery-white metal that is essential for making the rechargeable batteries used in computers, smartphones and electric cars.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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About the investigation<\/h2>\n

Danwatch has been to Chile to investigate the country\u2019s growing lithium extraction industry. In the process, we have interviewed numerous scientists, companies, politicians and the people who live closest to the extraction sites.<\/p>\n

The investigation was supported by the EU-funded project Make ICT Fair and published in collaboration with Setem.<\/p>\n

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Lithium is viewed as a crucial building block in the \u201cgreen energy transition\u201d to low-carbon technology<\/a>. But the increasing extraction of lithium is fuelling conflicts over water scarcity among the indigenous peoples of Chile’s Atacama Desert<\/a>, where some of the world’s largest lithium deposits lie.<\/p>\n

Danwatch has reviewed annual reports, shipping data and press releases to determine which companies are buying lithium from Chile. While most companies are secretive about their lithium suppliers, we can say for certain that many of the world’s best-known electronics and electric-vehicle manufacturers get batteries from companies that use lithium from the Latin American country.<\/p>\n

The world’s greatest companies buy lithium from Chile<\/h4>\n

As Danwatch has described<\/a>, the two largest companies extracting lithium in Atacama are the US corporation Albemarle and the Chilean and partially Chinese-owned firm SQM.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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FACTS<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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From Chile to your electronics<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The supply chain of lithium batteries depends on the type of battery, and there are major differences between battery types in their journey from Chilean brine to being a complete battery. It is difficult to trace how and where lithium is included in the production process, and so the graphic shows overall connections from mining companies Albemarle and SQM in Chile to well-known manufacturers of electric cars and consumer electronics.<\/h5>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Neither company would tell Danwatch whom they sell lithium to. But in Albemarle’s 2017 annual report<\/a>, we found Panasonic, Umicore and Samsung SDI. mentioned as some of the company’s largest customers. All three companies are, according to market analysis companies<\/a>, among the world\u2019s top 10 largest lithium-ion battery manufacturers; and according to several reports<\/a>, Panasonic is the world’s largest manufacturer of batteries for electric cars. In Albemarle’s 2018 annual report, the comparable section looks almost identical to the one in the 2017 report, yet Albemarle has removed any mention of its customers.<\/p>\n

Asked if the company still sells lithium to those companies, Albemarle’s Country Manager in Chile, Ellen Lenny-Pessagno, responded that the company “continues to sell lithium to the principal EV battery material and battery producers”, and that Albemarle tries to maintain a “long-term relationship strategy with its customers” \u2014 in other words, she did not respond directly to Danwatch’s questions about specific companies.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Pump extracting brine from the Atacama’s underground. The brine is then transported through the pipes to the nearby evaporation ponds.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Gigafactories<\/h2>\n