S-LCA of lithium mining in Chile and its potential impacts on water and the local community

Abstract

Abstract Purpose Lithium is critical to the clean energy transition, specifically for lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles and grid-level energy storage. Chile is a major source of lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate from brine. The main production facilities are in the Salar de Atacama (SdA), a hyper-arid region home to indigenous communities. A social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) was conducted to better understand the potential impacts of lithium mining on these communities, particularly in relation to water consumption as this is a concern within the region. Methods A cradle-to-gate S-LCA on lithium was performed from brine extraction to the gate of the chemical plant. A hotspot analysis using the Social Hotspots Database (SHDB), in combination with literature and local discussions, was used to prioritize stakeholder groups and subcategories for data collection. Local community, Worker, and Society were selected as stakeholder groups. Subcategories for the Local community included Access to material resources (with a focus on freshwater), Cultural heritage, Respect of indigenous rights, Community engagement, and Local employment. Data sources included primary data from a mining company and interviews with the local community during a site visit. The reference scale approach was applied using Chilean laws and international best practices. Results and discussion Two scoring approaches yielded different scores on the reference scale. With an average scoring approach, all subcategories were at compliance level or above for all stakeholders. The mining company has many projects and initiatives ongoing to improve the wellbeing of the local community. Policies and projects lead to higher scores when applying the average scoring approach. However, with a precautionary approach, where the worst performing indicator determines the score, four subcategories were identified as potential issues for the Local community: Access to material resources — freshwater, Access to material resources — agriculture, Delocalization and migration, and Respect of indigenous rights. For Access to material resources — freshwater, local community members had varying perspectives on freshwater scarcity, but some connected it to lithium mining and also described the cultural importance of water. Conclusions The results of this S-LCA can be used to better understand the potential social impacts from lithium production and how they can be improved. Recommendations are provided to address the potential social impacts of lithium mining in the SdA, including continuing increased communication and projects with the communities, fostering initiatives to improve the understanding of the lithium production process, and considering that community members have equal access to benefit from projects.