and lithium each battery contains from twenty to thirty kilos of lithium carbonate . here deep underground lies the lithium that german car makers depend on the atacama desert in chile one of the driest places on earth. this allowed the atacama a huge salt flats lies in the north on the country s borders to argentina and bolivia. its surface is encrusted with salt for kilometers on end. but deep in the ground there s mineral rich water and that s where the lithium is to be found. this mine extracts the ultra light metal pumps bring the salt water from the ground up to the surface it ends up in huge pools. in the heat of the desert the water evaporates the pools in this
exist nowhere else in the world the water table is sinking this lagoon is becoming saltier and the biologists measurements bear that out. the scientists find scarcely any small organisms in their samples but the flamingos depend on them and. with the unfettered backgammon the sonata atacama used to be home to the largest population of indian flamingos in the high end these cornish with the lithium mining that s now planted the flamingos won t survive get the money go. for millennia nature was in equilibrium here then industrial countries needed rechargeable batteries for their smartphones and clean cars what followed was a lithium rush. some tagal the two lane capital raw materials account for about a third of chile s economic output they play important foreign currency into the
in the. present we can produce about one hundred or two hundred grams of this material from what we are now is progressing to a ten kilograms. seed q to come washed up. cobalt free batteries could be a reality in five years time until then experts say responsibility lies with german carmakers. it s common knowledge cannot be the case the air in germany we drive environmentally friendly electric vehicles while the roma tiriel xfer that components a mind in developing countries under the most appalling circumstances in. environmental damage from lithium mining in chile. knocks just a small movement by inhuman working conditions in the d.r. seeing. that as well is the price of a lecture mobility. right on down through. the flame.
out the village. on the mining companies of course there s it s death the german car makers need huge amounts of lithium the impact here is dramatic this is in a little over the moon you people at the other end of the world you should know this they produce lithium and make victims of us they earn millions and millions of euros but they sacrifice human life on this. sacrifice animals if you like sacrifice life. you know i mean that s how the world is and nobody cass in wonder if bessie. and ivy. the indigenous farmers on the atacama salt flat face an uncertain future. more and more new evaporation pools are being built. chile aims to more than
country but it s money from which the city of santiago mainly benefits. chile s minister of mining has no intention of giving up the income generated by lithium. illegal lithium is a natural resource that s currently in high demand for electoral mobility and it boosts the national economy. by i should learn from other countries that have not sacrificed their environment for these resources by a security nonsense if you go you know i think environmental protection a mining can be compatible if companies invest in the latest technology. be the internet over here. mathilde allopathic doesn t believe new technologies can be of any help she says the effects of mining in the outcome of desert are too severe