Strategic Report for the Development of the Lithium Industry

This book offers a comprehensive overview of the lithium industry, covering topics ranging from properties, resources, and reserves to its industrial structure, costs, marketbehavior, and projections. The text is designed to provide a systematic overview to a wide public, preparing readers to understand technical and public policy concepts that require regional context. The document addresses complex issues such as extraction technologies in a simple and general writing, but not less formal, focusing on both current processes for brines and Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technologies. It includes overviews of technological maturity, challenges, comparative analyses, and CAPEX/OPEX contrasts, as well as a global comparison of alternatives, providing useful criteria for investment decisions and project evaluation. The book also incorporates information about the Lithium Triangle context, including a revision of the regulatory and institutional framework, and an examination of impacts that integrates economics and socio-environmental legitimacy. The latter is developed with its own conceptual basis, beyond the "social license," and is based on ethnographic evidence to situate eco-political conflicts and guide policy responses. The conclusion proposes recommendations in the technological, political, and socio-environmental areas, connecting institutional design with industrial and territorial viability. This book has been developed in the framework of Energytran project, funded by European Commission through the Horizon Programme.