Taking the giant step towards securing the clean energy future of the world, Rio Tinto has entered into a binding joint venture with Chilean state mining company ENAMI to develop the Salares Altoandinos lithium project—a huge low-cost, long-life deposit located in the heart of the Atacama Desert. With its 51% controlling interest, Rio Tinto is not only putting in capital—$425 million at most—but also its industry-altering direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology into the project. The ambition of which is to create one of the world’s most sustainable and scale-able lithium brine businesses, producing as much as 75,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) per annum. Worldwide demand for lithium keeps on growing. From plug-in cars to grid batteries, the world is starved for this white metal. Chile has some of the richest deposits of lithium in the world. Since China dominates so much of the lithium trade, this acquisition helps Rio Tinto create a significant, independent presence in South America—and ship directly into the picking-up green revolution.

https://crafmin.com/rio-tinto-low-cost-lithium-mine-chile/