A top environmental judge in Chile renewed a call for a government-vetted water study to help stamp out lingering questions about sustainability that have cast a pall over Chile’s lithium-rich Salar de Atacama. Water – both fresh and saline, where the lithium lies – has long been a sticking point for miners at Atacama, one of the world’s richest reserves of the ultralight battery metal. The flat sits amid the world’s driest desert.
