Lithium – the lightest known metal in the world – can store a large amount of power. The battery of a Tesla Model S electric car has about 12 kilograms of lithium in it; your mobile phone contains a spoonful.
Argentina, Bolivia and Chile hold around 50 per cent of the world’s lithium reserves under their deserts. A huge spike in global demand – mostly from China, which has made a transition to electric vehicles a part of its five-year plan – has turned the world’s attention to Latin America’s so-called Lithium Triangle.
