Metal in the dust: a mining air pollution controversy in Chile

Intensive natural resource exploitation in the Atacama region of Chile has worsened air pollution. The instruments and indicators used to measure pollution were developed within a techno-scientific regulatory framework that does not necessarily provide local inhabitants with certainty. Even though three localities in the region were declared “saturated with PM10 or respirable particulate matter” in 2021, there is still strong suspicion about the composition of the air because it is not only dust. Through an analysis of public documents and an ethnographic methodology, this article takes a socio-technical approach to collecting evidence on dust in the region and the normative expression of the population's disparate experiences with this controversial object.