FILE PHOTO: Brine pools from a lithium mine, that belongs U.S.-based Albemarle Corp, is seen on the Atacama salt flat in the Atacama desert, Chile, August 16, 2018. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado
SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA (Reuters) - Earlier this year, the world's two biggest lithium producers publicly celebrated new deals with Chile's government that will allow them to vastly increase output of the ultralight battery metal from the Atacama, the world's driest desert.
U.S.-based Albemarle Corp and Chile's SQM operate just 3 miles (5 km) apart in the remote Salar, a basin in the Atacama that is home to one of the world's richest deposits of high-grade lithium. Lithium-ion batteries are key components for most consumer electronics, from cellphones and laptops to electric cars.
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