How Chile's progressive new plan to mine lithium faces Indigenous hurdles

Reuters journalist Alexander Villegas walks the area of Pujsa salt flat at Los Flamencos National Reserve, in Antofagasta region, Chile, May 5, 2023. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

ATACAMA DESERT, Chile - Chile's millennial president, Gabriel Boric, promised to mine differently. He would turn the world's largest copper producer and second largest lithium miner into a country that focused on environmental and social responsibility.

When Boric announced his ambitious plan in April to take state control over the country's lithium industry and expand extraction of this essential component of electric car batteries, he pledged to so with pioneering environmentally-friendly technology, and personally talk with local Indigenous communities.