Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Taking the giant step towards securing the clean energy future of the world, Rio Tinto has entered into a binding joint venture with Chilean state mining company ENAMI to develop the Salares Altoandinos lithium project—a huge low-cost, long-life deposit located in the heart of the Atacama Desert.
With its 51% controlling interest, Rio Tinto is not only putting in capital—$425 million at most—but also its industry-altering direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology into the project. The ambition of which is to create one of the world’s most sustainable and scale-able lithium brine businesses, producing as much as 75,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) per annum.
Why This Project Matters—Right Now
Worldwide demand for lithium keeps on growing. From plug-in cars to grid batteries, the world is starved for this white metal. Chile has some of the richest deposits of lithium in the world. Since China dominates so much of the lithium trade, this acquisition helps Rio Tinto create a significant, independent presence in South America—and ship directly into the picking-up green revolution.
What makes it stand out from another mining agreement is that it has scale, innovation, and sustainability as its priorities.
Reducing the Project by Half
Scope and Vision:
The project covers three massive salt pans—Aguilar, La Isla, and Grande. The three altogether have in excess of 15 million tonnes of LCE potential. Rio Tinto and ENAMI are far along, with production increasing annually year after year at a consistent rate.
Technology Edge:
Rio Tinto’s DLE technology revolutionizes the process. Whereas conventional evaporation processes take months and use huge quantities of water, DLE compresses extraction time to days. It produces higher recovery rates of lithium while reducing water use by up to 70%. That’s worth more in an area such as Atacama, where water is valued as much as the minerals it encompasses.
Environmental Concern:
The JV will reinject brine back into aquifers to maintain the delicate hydrology of the region. Environmental openness, local community outreach, and responsible management of resources are all built into the project from day one.
The Numbers
- Ownership: 51% Rio Tinto and 49% ENAMI retains.
- Investment: Initial phase up to $425 million, and staged follow-on investment taking total value of the project up to around $3 billion.
- Production Target: Up to 2032, the production may be 75,000 tonnes of LCE.
- Economy of production: Below the mark of global standards at $3,500-$4,500 per tonne.
Turning Point for Rio Tinto
Picture: Bloomberg
This. This is also Rio Tinto’s bold foray into lithium, its other plans in Argentina, and its independent JV with Chile’s Codelco. It’s not purely a geography thing, however. It’s constructing a secure, ESG-driven supply chain that can drive EV adoption around the world without sacrificing sustainability.
For Rio Tinto, the Salares Altoandinos lithium project is more than a figure on a balance sheet—it’s a statement of leadership in the resources economy looking to the future.Â
Industry Insight
Behind the statistics, there is a grander story. The lithium market is changing fast. Prices will fluctuate, but the overall trend is bullish. Governments, investors, and producers all are in a scramble to uncover secure, responsible supplies of battery minerals. And that makes transactions like this one not nice to have—they’re necessary.
Rio Tinto’s plan is straightforward: marry historic reserves with leading-edge technology and responsible local allies to create competitive, pure, and conflict-free lithium.
A Skeptical Optimism
Of course, there are no risks in an undertaking of this magnitude. The Atacama desert is a sensitive region ecologically, and one which must be monitored. DLE, promising as it is, has not yet scaled. And the market for lithium itself is also a price-volatile one.
But Rio Tinto and ENAMI clearly appreciate what’s at stake. Their pace, accuracy, and partnership mechanism indicate a thoughtful approach—not simply a cash one, but a biological and cultural one as well.Â
Final Word
The Rio Tinto–ENAMI alliance represents a new generation of Chilean lithium development. With its healthy blend of innovation, investment, and respect for the environment, this project can be the gold standard for the mining of lithium—doing so responsibly, efficiently, and in scale.
Whether you’re a manufacturer of electric cars, an investor in clean-tech, or just someone observing the energy revolution unfolding on the horizon, this’s one company to watch. It’s not necessarily a matter of digging minerals out of the ground—it’s a matter of what will fuel the world’s future.
