Risk For Flamingos in Chile Because of Lithium Mining

It’s time to recall your chemistry and biology classes!

Are you ready? 

Today’s post will discuss how lithium mining poses a risk to flamingos in Chile. Let’s begin. But before that, let’s take a little overview of lithium metal.

Lithium

Lithium is a Greek word that means a metal or stone. Lithium is a chemical element, and its atomic number is 3. The symbol of lithium is Li.

Lithium looks like a stone or silver alkali metal. The density of the lithium is less, and it is a very flammable metal that loves to react with flames. It is so soft that you can cut it through a kitchen knife.

It does not react freely in nature. However, with some compounds or minerals, it can violently react. Lithium is present in water and the sea due to its solubility. Lithium is an electrolytically isolated metal and comes from a potassium chloride and lithium chloride mixture.

Lithium and its compounds are used for different purposes like Ceramics and aluminum products. Lithium salts are useful for mental illness and bipolar disorder. A trace amount of them is present in a biological system.

Importance Of Lithium

This unique element was discovered in Swedish in 1790. Due to its low density, it can easily float on water. This is the most precious component; its properties make it precious. Let’s discuss some important and effective uses of lithium.

• Lithium plays a very important role in our industry and daily usage of home appliances. We use lithium in air crafts, machinery, batteries, and other products.
• Most important uses of lithium are in non-rechargeable batteries and some rechargeable batteries.
• Aluminum-lithium is useful for making cycle frames and high-speed trains. We use lithium carbonate in different medicines for depression, mental illness, etc.
• Lithium stearate is very effective for high-pressure lubricants. Lithium batteries are most recommended these days.

According to NASA, lithium is the second-lightest chemical created in the universe. This thing makes lithium more effective and useful for performing many tasks. You can gauge its importance because it is used in the preparation of 1000s of products.

Drawbacks Of Lithium Mining

The common and major drawback of lithium mining is water loss, biodiversity loss, and toxic loss. But, the main concern is water loss. For a tonne of lithium, you need 2 million liters of water. The Indigenous State raised the big question of “how we will fulfill the water deficiency?”

Lithium mining will badly affect the entire ecological network due to microorganisms. Some bacteria may live during the lithium process, and some may after being transformed into batteries.

A survey revealed that car companies need almost 10 kilos of lithium to make a single electric car in 2016. According to many expert reports, the quantity of lithium will reach 240,000 tons by 2030. The automotive industry alone needs thousands of tonnes of lithium.

The current evaporation technology for extracting lithium is creating a problem in many countries such as Chile. The Canadian company has introduced a new technology which is called nanotechnology. We can extract the lithium directly from the liquid and pump the water back underground through this technology. This method prevents the water shortage problem.

Risk For Flamingos In Chile Because Of Lithium Mining

Lithium mining can be dangerous for these iconic pink birds that depend on ecologically salt flat borders.

According to research reports from the Royal Society, lithium mining and climate change both are causing the decline of two flamingo species.

We use lithium in smartphone batteries, rechargeable car batteries, and other objects. It is expected to play in the fight against climate change. After one decade, the metal demand will increase, and it’s not good news for flamingos.

Few of the largest lithium producers globally are Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. These countries are together known as the “lithium triangle”. We must also remember that these regions are also home to dry deserts. This means it already has a limited source of water. These regions produce a “nourishing cyanobacteria” while mining lithium. This bacteria eats 3 different types of flamingos, which is half of the flamingo species in the world.

According to the University of South Carolina in Columbia, the process of lithium mining uses a massive amount of water. According to estimates, they need 400,000 liters of water for 1 ton of lithium.

Experts have revealed that the flamingos’ count will drastically decline in just a couple of years due to lithium mining.

Another big problem is climate change. Because of climate change, maybe we will lose the remaining food for flamingos. Food loss is exceeding day by day due to lithium mining. In 11 years, the flamingos’ population decreased by 10% of its actual population. This is the loss of thousands of birds.

We need to find a proper solution to solve this problem. Because lithium mining demand is increasing day by day. If we didn’t stop this lithium mining, maybe we would lose the flamingos species forever. But another side of lithium batteries is the innovation which has become a substantial part of modern technologies. Processing of lithium mining is our need now.

Conclusion

Lithium mining is affecting the life of flamingos species. No, one can refuse this; it’s true. But we are losing tonnes of water as well.

Lithium mining comes with both pros and cons. Industrialization, advancement, and demand for more technological goods cannot be stopped. Thus, lithium mining will also not stop. It will continue to increase with time.

But now it’s time to decide what we need most. Lithium or water and flamingos, and then decide where we should go. Maybe we can bear the loss of lithium but can’t live without water.

Due to the extreme climatic change, it’s time that we think of lithium substitutes. A substitute that is friendly for the environment and our natural resources. And at the same, it fulfills our needs.