• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.1-14
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• 2018

The recent increase in demand for lithium has led to the development of new brine prospects, The brines are hosted in closed salar basin aquifers of two types that are mature halite salars and immature clastic salars. Salar brines also contain other elements of commercial interest, most notably potassium and boron. As a result, there has been a plethora of new exploration projects focused on the brines hosted in the aquifers of the intermontane-closed basins. The estimate of lithium resources and reserves in these salars depends on a detailed knowledge of aquifer geometry, porosity, and brine grade. Because the resource is in a fluid state, it has the propensity to move, mix, rearrange itself relatively rapidly during the course of a project lifetime, and lower recovery factors compared with most metalliferous and industrial mineral deposits due to reliance on pumping of the brine from wells for extraction. This is unlike any other type of metallic mineral resource and hence a different approach specially focusing on hydrogeology and brine hydrology is required for these prospects.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.1-16
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• 2018

Recent development of lithium ion batteries for vehicles industries have led to a boom in lithium exploration and development for the new generation of batteries. One of the cheapest sources of lithium is the brines hosted in the aquifers of the arid intermontane-closed salar basins. Because the resource is a fluid, with the attendant problems of in-aquifer mixing, reorganization, and lower recovery factors compared with most metalliferous and industrial mineral deposits due to reliance on pumping of the brine from wells for extraction, existing codes for filing resource and reserve estimates require new approach for these prospects. Evaluation of brine resources is complex and requires participation of a variety of qualified experts such as hydrogeologists, geologists, geochemists and chemical engineers. The technical reports disclosing the results of these estimates should reflect the inputs of multi-disciplinary approaches. The requirements for brine resource and reserve evaluation, drawing on several examples from the experiences in the Central Andes are reviewed in this paper.