“Tossed aside in the ‘white gold’ rush: Indigenous people are left poor as tech world takes lithium from under their feet”, 19 December 2016

…[T]he indigenous Atacamas people face a constant struggle…Mining companies have for years been extracting billions of dollars of lithium from the Atacama region in Chile, and now [also]…Argentina…In visits to all six of the indigenous communities…The Post found a striking contrast — faraway companies profiting from mineral riches while the communities that own the land struggle to pay for sewage systems, drinking water and heat for schools…Many…are worried that the lithium plants, which use vast amounts of water, will deepen existing shortages in the region…In response to the complaints, the mining companies…told The Post that they follow environmental regulations and that the lithium boom has yielded benefits for residents. They point to the creation of hundreds of jobs and investments of hundreds of millions of dollars in one of Argentina’s poorest regions…The lithium boom…has divided communities. It has spurred demonstrations and lawsuits…One problem is that the province lacks a formal process for negotiations between indigenous communities and mining companies…

[Refers to Albemarle, Amazon, Apple, ATL, FMC, Foote Mineral, General Motors, LG Chem, LG Electronics, Lithium Americas, Millennial Lithium, Minera Exar, Orocobre, Panasonic, Pulead, Sales de Jujuy, Samsung, Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM), Tesla, Toyota, Toyota Tsusho]