Preliminary field research on the social, political, and environmental dynamics around copper and lithium extraction in Chile and Argentina

During this summer’s fieldwork in Chile and Argentina, I conducted 26 interviews with representatives of major mining companies, junior exploration companies, national and regional governments, and local communities in mining regions. Since returning to California, I’ve conducted another 10 remote interviews that followed on my fieldwork. My goal for this summer’s fieldwork was to get a better sense of the copper and lithium value chains in each country, and to identify promising projects and/or regions for more in-depth fieldwork. I spent about two-thirds of my time in Chile and one-third in Argentina. In the end, I found myself focusing more on the lithium industry as a way to interrogate my central research questions. The status of lithium as an industry under creation is particularly interesting to me. I was especially drawn to the lithium industry in Argentina, which is home to many projects in the stage of exploration.