The Lithium Triangle (Spanish: Triángulo del Litio) is a region of the Andes that is rich in lithium reserves, encompassed by the borders of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile.[1] The lithium in the triangle is concentrated in various salt pans that exist along the Atacama Desert and neighboring arid areas, the largest areas three main salt pants that define its vertex< Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, Salar de Atacama in Chile, and Salar del Hombre Muerto in Argentina. Of those, Salar de Atacama in Chile has the highest concentration lithium (0.15% by weight) among all world's brine sources. The shape of the area of interest for lithium resources in salt pans is however not a triangle but more of a crescent starting with Salar de Surire (19° S) in the north and ending with Salar de Maricunga (27° S) in the south.[2] Because of this it has been proposed to rename the area Lithium Crescent.[2]
As of 2017 the area was thought to hold around 54% of the world's lithium reserves,[3] however, these reserves, which are the largest in size and the highest in quality in the world, are not expected to make the surrounding countries wealthy, as oil has done for the Gulf countries. For example, the total amount of lithium minerals in Chile is worth "less than Saudi Arabia's three years' worth of oil exports."[4]
Annual production in the early 2020’s was as follows: 140,000 tons per year in Chile,[5] 33,000 tons per year in Argentina,[6] and 600 en por per year in Bolivia.[7]
^Anlauf, Axel (2016). "Greening the imperial mode of living? Socio- ecological (in)justice, electromobility, and lithium mining in Argentina". In Pichler, Melanie; Staritz, Cornelia; Küblböck, Karin; Plank, Christina; Raza, Werner; Ruiz Peyré, Fernando (eds.). Fairness and Justice in Natural Resource Politics.
^ abLópez Steinmetz, Romina Lucrecia; Salvi, Stefano (2021). "Brine grades in Andean salars: When basin size matters A review of the Lithium Triangle". Earth-Science Reviews. 217. Bibcode:2021ESRv..21703615L. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2021.103615. S2CID 233846211.
^Ellsworth Dickson (2017). "South America's prospective - The Lithium Triangle". Resource World. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
^Lithium: The Global Race for Battery Dominance and the New Energy Revolution. 2021. L. Bednarski. ISBN 1787386732. p. 97.
^(Dube 2022)"Chile has expanded output at its existing operations by 80% since 2016 to about 140,000 tons annually”
^(Quinn 2024)"En 2022, Argentina produjo 33.000 toneladas de LCE, el segundo país de la región y el cuarto del mundo"
^(Quinn 2024)"la producción solo alcanzó 600 toneladas de LCE el año pasado"
The LithiumTriangle (Spanish: Triángulo del Litio) is a region of the Andes that is rich in lithium reserves, encompassed by the borders of Argentina...
million in lithium production and in 2021 successfully produced 540 tons. The brines in the salt pans of the LithiumTriangle vary widely in lithium content...
Lithium carbonate is an inorganic compound, the lithium salt of carbonic acid with the formula Li 2CO 3. This white salt is widely used in processing...
South American LithiumTriangle (Bolivia, Chile and Argentina). The company specializes in development, manufacturing and deployment of lithium mining technology...
Lithium hydroxide is an inorganic compound with the formula LiOH. It can exist as anhydrous or hydrated, and both forms are white hygroscopic solids....
Lithium hexafluorophosphate is an inorganic compound with the formula LiPF6. It is a white crystalline powder. LiPF6 is manufactured by reacting phosphorus...
Lithium citrate (Li3C6H5O7) is a lithium salt of citric acid that is used as a mood stabilizer in psychiatric treatment of manic states and bipolar disorder...
Lithium niobate (LiNbO3) is a synthetic salt consisting of niobium, lithium, and oxygen. Its single crystals are an important material for optical waveguides...
Lithium hydride is an inorganic compound with the formula LiH. This alkali metal hydride is a colorless solid, although commercial samples are grey. Characteristic...
Lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxides (abbreviated NMC, Li-NMC, LNMC, or NCM) are mixed metal oxides of lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt with the...
A lithium atom is an atom of the chemical element lithium. Stable lithium is composed of three electrons bound by the electromagnetic force to a nucleus...
Lithium aluminium hydride, commonly abbreviated to LAH, is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula Li[AlH4] or LiAlH4. It is a white solid, discovered...
Lithium chloride is a chemical compound with the formula LiCl. The salt is a typical ionic compound (with certain covalent characteristics), although...
Lithium iron phosphate or lithium ferro-phosphate (LFP) is an inorganic compound with the formula LiFePO 4. It is a gray, red-grey, brown or black solid...
point. Lithium nitride is prepared by direct combination of elemental lithium with nitrogen gas: 6 Li + N2 → 2 Li3N Instead of burning lithium metal in...
Lithium nitrate is an inorganic compound with the formula LiNO3. It is the lithium salt of nitric acid (an alkali metal nitrate). The salt is deliquescent...
{Red}{\ce {X}}}} These reagents were discovered by Henry Gilman and coworkers. Lithium dimethylcopper (CH3)2CuLi can be prepared by adding copper(I) iodide to...
Lithium orotate (C5H3LiN2O4) is a salt of orotic acid and lithium. It is available as the monohydrate, LiC5H3N2O4·H2O. In this compound, lithium is non-covalently...
lithium soaps are used as components of lithium grease (white lithium). Lithium soaps are produced by saponification of triglycerides, using lithium hydroxide...
Lithium sulfide is the inorganic compound with the formula Li2S. It crystallizes in the antifluorite motif, described as the salt (Li+)2S2−. It forms...
Lithium cobalt oxide, sometimes called lithium cobaltate or lithium cobaltite, is a chemical compound with formula LiCoO 2. The cobalt atoms are formally...
to open a lithium carbonate pilot plant. Thacker Pass Lithium Mine – Proposed mining of hectorite clay deposit in Nevada LithiumTriangle – Region of...
the principal lithium mineral spodumene (LiAlSi2O6) is 8.03%. Lithium oxide forms along with small amounts of lithium peroxide when lithium metal is burned...
Lithium fluoride is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula LiF. It is a colorless solid that transitions to white with decreasing crystal size...
Lithium diisopropylamide (commonly abbreviated LDA) is a chemical compound with the molecular formula LiN(CH(CH3)2)2. It is used as a strong base and...