Bolivia’s salt flats have long been a tourist draw. But in recent years visitors may have glimpsed excavators on the horizon – a hint of the industrial future that awaits. The brine beneath the salt flats contains lithium, essential for electric batteries. Last month, Bolivia announced it would partner with a Chinese consortium to extract it, reviving dreams of a lithium-powered economy.
Surging demand for lithium has caused prices to increase more than 10-fold since 2020, to record highs of
