Chile extracts lithium from Atacama desert

SALAR DE ATACAMA, CHILE - OCTOBER 25: Huge pools of brine containing lithium carbonate and mounds of salt by-products stretch across a lithium mine in the Atacama Desert in Salar de Atacama, Chili on October 25, 2022. The Chemical and Mining Society of Chile (SQM) is expanding its mining operations in Salar de Atacama to meet the growing global demand for lithium carbonate, the main ingredient in battery production for electric vehicles. Chile is the world's second largest producer of lithium after Australia. (Photo by Lucas Aguayo Araos/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)