The Development of the Lithium Industry in Chile: A Multifactorial Challenge Muñoz Vlamir, Soto-Bubert Andrés, Acevedo Roberto* Facultad de Ingeniería, Arquitectura y Diseño, Universidad San Sebastián, Bellavista 7, 8420524, Santiago, Chile *Corresponding author E-mail: roberto.acevedo.llanos@gmail.com
Online Published on 16 December, 2023. Abstract A great and rather intense debate is going on in Chile concerning Lithium because of the many applications in due progress worldwide. Chile is indeed a small country having a somewhat fragile economy. We have managed so far by exploiting metallic and non-metallic resources; however, due to the pandemic and social disturbances, the overall situation has increased our debt significantly. There are additional problems to overcome if the country and its citizens wish to improve the quality of their lives. We need to attract new income sources and develop a comprehensive and effective strategy to create opportunities to open our economy to new investments and simultaneously to enlarge our critical mass of professionals to produce highly competitive goods to both export and compete with the country of the so-called first world. Countries such as the United States of America, China, Russia, India and the European Community have developed highly creative strategies to compete successfully in the world market over the decades. The discussion is ongoing in Chile and South American countries with lithium resources, and there is not a sensible agreement about how to deal with our resources in a rational way to increase the value added to the products and citizens’ quality of life. We have thought about these issues and have tried here to identify, broadly speaking, the different factors that participate in the challenge for Chile to advance in the industrial development of Lithium. Top Keywords Lithium, Strategic resource, Development, Mining sector. Top |