As battery demand soars, Chile's direct lithium extraction projects show how upstream innovation in mineral sourcing reconciles speed, sustainability and scale in clean-tech manufacturing.
Meet Erick Morales. A project control engineer by training, he starts his mornings under the clear desert skies of northern Chile. This arid expanse is home to some of the world’s richest lithium reserves. It also sits at the heart of global transformation. Erick’s job is to ensure that the lithium powering electric vehicles is produced responsibly, with care for the fragile ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.
Around him, a new kind of story is taking shape. One in which technology, tradition and stewardship work in concert. From indigenous groups monitoring water flows to scientists trialling low-impact extraction, northern Chile is showing how the energy transition can be grounded in local benefit as well as global ambition.
For Erick, this is more just than a job. It’s a chance to shape the future. The energy transition is not just about replacing oil with electrons; it’s about rethinking how industry works. With innovation and integrity, it can become the defining opportunity of our generation: clean energy, powered by smarter processes and shared progress.
Over half of the world’s lithium, a metal used in batteries for EVs, can be found in Latin America. In Chile, Antofagasta was once a frontier town for copper. It is now the world's second-largest lithium producer.
Among the commodities that are key to decarbonisation is lithium. Sometimes referred to as “white gold”, the metal is a key ingredient in the batteries that power EVs and store the energy generated by wind farms and solar panels.
Miners need to plan for growth in a low-carbon future. Demand for lithium is set to grow more than 40-fold by 2040, according to projections in PwC’s 2025 Global Mine report.
Until very recently, mining technology had not changed for decades. Extracting lithium by traditional methods from the rocks and salt water where it is found can be time-consuming and energy-intensive.
What's more, this type of extraction can cause damage to the environment and place severe strain on already scarce water supplies. Almost three-quarters of current production of lithium andcobalt and more than half the current production of copper—minerals crucial for the clean energy transition—is at risk from drought by 2050, highlighting the need for sustainable extraction.
The race is on to develop more efficient, less damaging production methods.
Lithium producers are looking to switch to direct lithium extraction (DLE), which offers a path to resilience: it’s faster and more precise than traditional methods.
DLE uses significantly less land, cuts water use and accelerates output from months to hours. It is also less polluting. Engineers now extract lithium in real time—using methods that rival pharmaceutical precision.
Global pressure is growing to clean up sourcing. As demand soars, supply chains will be judged not only on how fast they deliver, but how fairly and sustainably they operate.
Europe's EV ambitions demand more lithium. But environmental targets are reshaping the rules of the game—and clean energy can’t come from dirty supply chains. This is forcing a rethink: how does mining for critical minerals scale quickly, but responsibly?
Cleaner extraction is only part of the solution; smarter infrastructure is the other. New DLE facilities are increasingly being built alongside refining plants, reducing transport emissions and anchoring more value locally.
“Developing additional processes alongside lithium carbonate production—such as cathode manufacturing—adds more value in-country.”
Chile and Argentina, long seen as raw material suppliers, are eyeing a larger prize: a foothold in the battery supply chain. No longer content to be simply waystations, these territories want to build the engine.
Some ventures are going further still, powering operations with solar or geothermal energy to slash carbon footprints.
Scaling up is not just a technical feat. It’s a litmus test for the clean energy transition, and it won’t stop at mining. The broader energy transformation demands enormous scaling across the board.
“Real manufacturing innovation starts on the ground—with people solving real problems—and scales through a fully developed automation strategy, enabling digital platforms and trusted data, and being in sync with governmental industrialisation priorities and policies.”
Cleaner extraction is no silver bullet. But in countries such as Chile, efforts to decouple industrial growth from environmental harm are beginning to reshape how the world makes things.
As demand rises for EVs and clean technologies, so too does the need for factories, housing and infrastructure to support them, creating economic ripples that mining companies must learn to manage more responsibly.
CleanTech's approach “involves all the actors here in the region—communities, academics, professionals, suppliers”, Erick explains. Such comprehensive engagement is critical for job creation, cultural investment and improved quality of life. The difficulty will be in ensuring that this vision survives the pressures of scaling up production.
Efficiency and industrial-scale sustainability are critical to what we make, but also to how we build. Construction, traditionally a carbon-intensive sector, is starting to modernise. Smarter materials, modular methods and digital design tools are opening new paths to sustainability. If the world is serious about hitting net zero, it must make and build not just faster, but smarter.
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