“Se instaló el diablo en el Salar”

Lorca, Mauricio; Andrade, Manuel Olivera; Garcés, Ingrid

doi:10.22199/issn.0718-1043-2023-0004

Estud. atacameños

2023

DOI: 10.22199/issn.0718-1043-2023-0004

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“Se instaló el diablo en el Salar”

Mauricio Lorca

Manuel Olivera Andrade

Ingrid Garcés

Abstract: La acción del capital y la minería en la región de Antofagasta desde fines del siglo XIX ha significado profundas transformaciones sociales y ambientales. Ese proceso de larga duración hoy encuentra continuidad y amplificación en la minería del litio en el Salar de Atacama. Desde la década de 1990, la dimensión étnica de la acción colectiva en ese territorio ha redefinido las relaciones interculturales posibilitando, en la segunda década de este siglo, la firma de convenios entre mineras y organizaciones ataca… Show more

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2024

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Cited by 2 publications

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Exploring conditions for just lithium mining in South America. The case of the EU responsible sourcing strategy

Murguía,

Obaya

2024

Environ. Res. Lett.

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To advance its climate neutrality and electromobility goals, the European Union (EU) depends on a reliable supply of lithium. The “lithium triangle”, comprising Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia, contains 53% of the world’s lithium resources and supplies 85% of the EU’s lithium imports. In 2023, the EU and Latin America launched a new cooperation agenda under which the EU signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with Chile and Argentina aimed at jointly developing sustainable value chains for critical raw materials. That same year, the EU adopted the European Batteries Regulation (EBR), which mandates corporate due diligence processes to address social and environmental risks associated with the mining of battery minerals. Together, the EBR and MoUs form the foundation of the EU’s responsible sourcing strategy for lithium mining in South America. This study, using the energy justice framework and data from a 2022 Delphi survey, investigates whether the EBR and MoUs align with the conditions that should be promoted so that the lithium battery value chain becomes just for the lithium triangle. Our findings indicate that the EU-South America agenda reflects cumulative learning by addressing mutual interests, such as local industrialization and the promotion of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards. However, the current EU responsible sourcing approach overlooks critical local-level justice considerations —distributive, procedural, and recognition justice— that are highly relevant to the lithium triangle. We argue that for the EU to ensure a just lithium supply from South America, additional issues must be prioritized, including the equitable participation of local communities in the economic benefits of lithium mining and the proper implementation of free, prior, and informed consultation with Indigenous peoples. 

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Exploring conditions for just lithium mining in South America. The case of the EU responsible sourcing strategy

Murguía,

Obaya

2024

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Responsabilidad Social Empresarial, ritual y extractivismo

Azócar-Duarte,

Milin

2024

Estud. Atacameños (En línea)

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Lithium mining has engaged in different types of relations with Indigenous communities since arriving in the Salar de Atacama between the 1980s and 1990s. One such relations strategy, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), was deployed in several regions worldwide in the 1990s as a joint effort by the mining industry to improve its image and focus on the episteme of ‘sustainable mining.’ This research looks at Ayllu Wine and the Toconao Harvest Festival, organized by the winemakers’ cooperative and SQM, to analyze CSR in relation to the concepts of extractivism and ritual. On the basis of qualitative research using ethnographies, interviews, press archive reviews and secondary sources, this paper concludes that, in the midst of the current lithium boom, the Harvest Festival is, in spatial and temporal terms, a SQM governability strategy that produces tension in the community. Behind the festivity, discourse and iconography of ‘responsible mining’ lies booming extractivist production.

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“Se instaló el diablo en el Salar”

Cited by 2 publications

References 32 publications

Exploring conditions for just lithium mining in South America. The case of the EU responsible sourcing strategy

Exploring conditions for just lithium mining in South America. The case of the EU responsible sourcing strategy

Responsabilidad Social Empresarial, ritual y extractivismo

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