The mine workers tending the pools are miniscule, like visitors from space, out of their depth against the broad horizons.Such is the picture in Catherine Hyland’s series of images from the SQM mine in the Atacama desert in northern Chile. Following every step of this “modern-day gold rush”, Matjaz Krivic’s project traces the complex social, economic and environmental impact of sourcing Lithium–the driving force of the 21st century. There is the idea that this is a desolate place that has been made tidy by mining.Read any article on lithium mining and you’ll find a mass of statistics; there are 7.5 million tons of lithium in the Atacama Desert, that’s enough for almost 400 million electric cars, or 200 billion iphones (the SQM mine, supplies lithium directly to Apple).
Four thousand metres above sea level in the rain shadow of the Andes Mountains, almost no rain falls here and the people who do live here have historically scraped a living breeding llamas and goats or knitting hats. Lithium is the element of the moment and the Atacama is where most of it comes from.
From Timothy O’Sullivan’s King’s Survey pictures of the American West to nineteenth century maps detailing the division of Africa between the colonial powers of Europe you can see the idea of emptiness and absence being used to justify expansionism, colonialism and control. They are drilling a new hole for '3PL', a lithium mining company from Canada that has that has been prospecting the area. We will consume, the cars will come and go, the lithium will run out, the mines will close, the land will remain.
“Lithium pollution is an increasing problem wherever it is mined, and there also are threats to local communities that are totally taken over and controlled by mining companies,” says Krivic.While the environmental impact of mining is an issue in itself, the Lithium boom shows no signs of subsiding—particularly as the transition from traditional fossil fuels to electric mobility has become a successful reality in places like Norway. Those numbers add to that idea of a delineated grid, to that sense of order coming to chaos.One side of the story that Hyland tells with her images is the process of making this lithium. Of those five, spodumene provides the largest proportion of all mineral-derived lithium. A global lithium fever started back in 2016, and hasn't let up. In his project, Krivic provides a visual overview of the contradictions that reside at the core of the issue; questions that will shape the future of Lithium mining—while importantly reminding us of its importance and relevance in our own day-to-day.
The same thing happens in her pictures from the Atacama. It’s yours for the taking.But there are other hints at human habitation there too; a gully running past a village showing both that rain does fall here sometimes and that the area is inhabited, albeit sparsely.
Further broadcasts: 13th of february 2020, 12.15, ARTE A small village in the Portuguese region "Trás-os-Montes" ("Behind the Mountains") is fighting against an apparently overwhelming opponent: the lithium lobby.
One ton of lithium requires 500,000 gallons of water for its production, all of it pumped from below ground in one of the world’s most fragile environments. In the Salar de Atacama salt flat, lithium exists as a mineral salt suspended in underground reservoirs of brine. As in her previous work in China, Universal Experience, Hyland captures a world that seems empty and desolate. Break down a smartphone battery and you’ll find 3 grammes of lithium in there.