Towards sustainable extraction of lithium-bearing brine resources: role of natural capital in the High Andes business strategies

Edmundo Tulcanaza ()
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Edmundo Tulcanaza: Universidad Politecnica De Madrid, ET & SI Minas y Energia

Mineral Economics, 2025, vol. 38, issue 3, No 11, 653-664

Abstract: Abstract It is a frequent topic to comment on the investments required to launch a new mine. However, we very rarely hear of a nation´s heritage resources that are used to accompany such an undertaking. I am referring to the natural capital, specifically, the in-situ mineral resources which are still in the ground; the flora, fauna, and soils which will be disturbed due to earthworks and infrastructures; the water consumed, and, likewise, some other natural elements. The motivation of this paper is to estimate the value of the natural capital involving the factors already mentioned used in the exploitation of the entire Lithium plateau in the High Andes which can play an important role in governments and companies’ decisions on regard of sustainability development, especially in their opportunities and risks. In this paper, only the lithium element contained in the salt flat values is considered. Based on their tonnages, three classes of lithium deposits are set up (Major > 1.000.000tLi, Medium 500.000tLi, and Minor

Keywords: Natural capital; Mineral resources; Mine development sequence; Biodiversity cut-off; Technical-economic cut off; Recursive valuation; Option value (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s13563-025-00513-x

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