The Vice President of External Affairs LATAM and country manager Chile Albemarle, Ignacio Mehech was part of the fourth panel on the second day of the Mining and Energy of the Future Congress.
The event was led by UC academic Gustavo Lagos, and was attended by the Minister of Energy, Diego Pardow, the Undersecretary of Economy and Smaller Companies, Javiera Petersen, and Senator Jaime Quintana, where they addressed the topic "Energy of the Future: Lithium in Chile".
On the occasion, Albemarle's representative, Ignacio Mehech, wondered: "How do we continue to grow? We have called it the new era of lithium, and it has to do with new technologies. Direct lithium extraction technologies, which allow lithium to be selectively recovered from that brine that many other salts or contents have. And to be able to return those lithium-free brines to the salt flat, back underground. That has many challenges that we are working on and that we hope to be successful between now and the end of the decade."
On the other hand, the challenges that the vice president evidenced was the use of fresh water. Highlighting the agreement - made in 2022 - between Albemarle and the company dedicated to the supply of desalinated water in the Salar de Atacama, Cramsa.
"It's not that Albemarle is going to build a desalination plant for itself, but that it is partnering with a company that has a project that aims to serve many people and companies in a region where there is a lack of water, with a shared infrastructure," Mehech said.
Another challenge for the North American mining company is the reinjection of brine, an innovation that has not been tested in salt flats anywhere in the world. "What we have to see is whether a reinjection can be made in a sustainable and environmental way, but also operationally sustainable in a saline environment. And we are already piloting that, we have been pioneers in this process and we hope to have good news to share," concluded the vice president of external affairs LATAM and country manager Chile Albemarle, Ignacio Mehech.
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