Lithium Brines “The Lithium Triangle” Part Two
Lithium Brines – the “Lithium Triangle” Part Two
In Part One I talked about lithium brines, a brief description of their characteristics, their geographical setting and how they develop within this geographical setting.
There is no greater location for lithium brines on the planet than that of the Lithium Triangle at the foot of the Andes in South America. It hosts 58% of the current known resources/reserves of lithium.
In Part Two of this series, I will talk about the Lithium Triangle. A brief description, its location, the main lithium occurrences (and operators), etc…
I’ll continue the series talking about that which lies beyond the Lithium Triangle. Can lithium brines develop outside its confines? Are there exploration opportunities outside this lithium triangle?
Where is the Lithium Triangle Located?
The Lithium Triangle is not really shaped like a triangle, but does spread across three countries, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. Perhaps it’s the three nations that suggest a triangulation.
The geographical setting of the Lithium Triangle is desert, in fact, it largely coincides with the driest desert on the planet, the Atacama Desert.
The Atacama Desert is located in the far north of Chile. Its margins spread into Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and south further into Chile.
Much of the Lithium Triangle also corresponds to the Altipano, which is a geographical region with a high average altitude (the Andes), a closed (internal) drainage system (numerous lakes and salars) and an arid climate (the Chilean part = the Atacama Desert). It occupies parts of southern Peru, southwest Bolivia and the far northeast part of Chile.
I’ve overlapped the Altiplano with the Lithium Triangle just to see how coincident the two areas are. The two areas overlap at the top end of the Lithium Triangle, where the Salar de Uyuni is located, as if pinning the two regions together.
The Lithium Payload of the Lithium Triangle
The lithium riches of the Lithium Triangle are shared between the three countries: Bolivia with ±21 million tonnes of lithium; Argentina with ±19 million tonnes of lithium, and Chile and ±9 million tonnes of lithium.
There are more than fifty salars (big and small) located within the Lithium Triangle. Of these there are a dozen or so that are being mined, developed or explored for lithium. It is interesting to note though that the largest salar in the Lithium Triangle, Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, is not currently being developed because it is owned by the Bolivian government. The current President may open up the lithium market in Bolivia, but the question is when? And how?
The main lithium occurrences in the Lithium Triangle are as follows:
Salar de Uyuni [Uyuni Salar] (Bolivia)
The largest salt flat in the world (>10,000sqkm) and contains more than half the world’s lithium reserves. It is owned by the Bolivian government and there is no commercial lithium production at present.
Area: 10,000sqkm.
Elevation: 3,653m.
Resource: Pending further research.
Estimated production: No commercial production at present.
Salar de Atacama [Atacama Salar] (Chile)
Area: 2,900sqkm.
Elevation: 2,300m.
Ownership: Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (SQM) and Albemarle Corporation.
Resource: Pending further research.
Estimated production: Pending further research.
Salar de Olaroz-Cauchari [Olaroz-Cauchari Salar] (Argentina)
Area: 550sqkm.
Elevation: 3,900m.
Ownership: Ganfeng Lithium and Lithium Americas.
Resource: 3.6 million tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent.
Estimated production 25,000t LCE/year.
Salar de Llullaillaco [Llullaillaco Salar] (Argentina)
Ownership: Litio Minera Argentina (a JV between Ganfeng Lithium and International Lithium).
Resource: 4.4 million tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent, and 26 million tonnes of potassium chloride (potash) equivalent.
Estimated production 10,000t LCE/year; 84,000t sulphate of potash (SOP).
Salar del Hombre Muerto [Hombre Mueto Salar] (Argentina)
Area: West 350sqkm. East 280sqkm.
Elevation: West/East 3,750m.
Ownership: Livent Corporation
Resource: 0.8 million tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent.
Estimated production: 22,500t LCE/year.
Salar de Diablillios [Diablillios Salar] (Argentina)
Ownership: Rodina Lithium
Resource: 4.9 million tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent, and 19.8 million tonnes potash equivalent.
Estimated production:
Salar de Centenario-Ratones [Centenario-Ratones Salar] (Argentina)
Ownership: Eramet.
Resource: 10 million tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent.
Estimated production 24,000t LCE/year.
Salar de Pastos Grandes [Pastos Grades Salar] (Argentina)
Ownership: Lithium Americas.
Resource: 4.12 million tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent.
Estimated production: 24,000t LCE/year.
Salar del Rinon [Rincon Salar] (Argentina)
Area: 280sqkm.
Elevation: 3,740m.
Ownership: Rio Tinto.
Resource: 7.5 million tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent.
Estimated production: 10,000t LCE/year.
Salinas Grandes Salar (Argentina)
Area: 2,500sqkm.
Elevation: 3,400m.
Ownership: Multiple owners, once traditionally mined for salt.
Resource: Unknown.
Estimated production: Unknown.
Of these listed above, only three are currently in production: Salar des Hombre Muerto (Argentina), Salar de Olaroz–Cauchari (Argentina), and Salar de Atacama (Chile). It is assumed that many more of these deposits will be brought into production within the next couple of years.
Despite the paucity of lithium brine mines, there is a lot of activity in the Lithium Triangle. For example, there are approximately 40 lithium projects owned by various explorers within or close to the Lithium Triangle.
It’s a crowded space. It’s not as if salt lakes are hard to identify. Exploration targets are readily identifiable.
What about “outside” the Lithium Triangle?
Is there an opportunity to explore for lithium brines in the vicinity of the Lithium Triangle but not “inside” the Lithium Triangle?
The short answer is “yes” in my opinion.
As described in Part One of this series of articles, the criteria for the development of a lithium brine are: i) closed lake/basin/drainage, ii) volcanics/heat, and iii) evaporation. Based on this criteria the “triangle” can be reshaped and expanded. The two key (related) observations that are germane to the expansion of the Lithium Triangle are:
- That drainage systems are dynamic, especially in a mountain range above a continental subduction zone; and
- The greater area of the Lithium Triangle has been arid of many tens of millions of years.
These factors combine to validate the concept that many lithium targets may be preserved in fossil salars outside the Lithium Triangle. The lithium targets may be perched lithium bearing brines and/or lithium-bearing clays with fossil salar sequences.
I’ll talk about these in Part Three of this series of articles.
