"Lithium boom comes to Brazil's 'misery valley'", 15 June 2023

...Jequitinhonha valley, in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, is one of the poorest places in the country.

But the region, nicknamed "misery valley," is on the cusp of a boom: it is home to around 85 percent of the lithium reserves in Brazil, the world's fifth-biggest producer of the metal, an essential ingredient in electric vehicle batteries.

Authorities in the region are eager to tap the potential of the silvery-white metal. Last month they threw a fanfare-filled event at the Nasdaq stock exchange's headquarters in New York, where they launched an initiative to attract investment to what they are calling "Lithium Valley."

Not everyone is thrilled at the idea, however. Some residents in the region of around one million people complain about the environmental impact of lithium mining, others that local communities are not being included. "This is the Jequitinhonha valley... They want to call it 'Lithium Valley.' But let's not put mining interests before our people's identity," says Aline Gomes Vilas, 45, a local activist in the town of Aracuai...

"This was a peaceful rural area. Now there's a constant racket. There are already houses with cracks in the walls from the explosions," she says. "The whole house shakes every time there's an explosion," adds Luiz Gonzaga, a 71-year-old farm worker who lives next to the mine. "They're digging pretty far from me for now, and the dust is already bothering us. Imagine what it will be like when they start digging closer"...