“Mining companies are pumping seawater into the driest place on Earth. But has the damage been done?”, 17 July 2025<\/p>\n
…The mega-drought is considered the most prolonged and widespread in a century, and the local population and mining companies are fighting for the right to water in the Atacama desert, the driest place on Earth, where the world\u2019s largest copper and lithium deposits are located…<\/p>\n
In December, Escondida\u2019s majority owner, the Australian mining firm BHP, the US-based Albemarle and Chilean firm Zald\u00edvar were ordered to pay an unprecedented $47m fine (\u00a334.5m) for depleting the Monturaqui-Negrillar-Tilopozo aquifer and damaging surrounding vegetation.<\/p>\n
The environmental court of Antofagasta ruled that the damage caused by the three companies \u201cnegatively affects the Indigenous community of Peine, altering their systems of life and traditions\u201d…<\/p>\n
The mining sector is increasingly turning to the sea. About 30% of the water used by Chile\u2019s mines now comes from seawater \u2013 desalinated or untreated \u2013 according to the national mining association. BHP says it has invested $4bn (\u00a32.94bn) in desalination infrastructure in recent years. As a result, the company says, it ceased extracting water from the Peine wetland in 2019.<\/p>\n
Its desalination plant in the coastal city of Coloso, about 170km (105 miles) from the mine, is the largest in Chile by capacity. \u201cThe company\u2019s first desalination plant opened in 2006, underscoring our pioneering role in the mining sector,\u201d BHP says.<\/p>\n
Albemarle has also told the Guardian that it no longer uses groundwater from the reserve in its operations. \u201cWhile our company has never been a major water user in the area, this step is part of our long-term sustainability efforts on the Atacama salt flat,\u201d the company\u2019s communications manager says…<\/p>\n
Zald\u00edvar has declined to comment…<\/p>\n
Despite advances in desalination, mining remains a major consumer of fresh water, accounting for about 50% of regional reserves in the north. Chile\u2019s ministry of mining projects that total consumption of water will go up by about 20% by 2034.<\/p>\n
Desalination and transporting seawater inland also come with environmental costs. These are energy-intensive processes, and studies forecast that CO2 emissions from Chile\u2019s desalination plants could reach up to about 700,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent annually by 2030 \u2013 about the same as Antigua and Barbuda…<\/p>\n
Desalination may also transfer environmental risks from the desert to the ocean…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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