Northern Puna Plateau-scale survey of Li brine-type deposits in the Andes of NW Argentina

LUCRECIA LÓPEZ STEINMETZ; STEFANO SALVI; M. GABRIELA GARCÍA; PERALTA ARNOLD, Y.; DIDIER BEZIAT ; GABRIELA FRANCO; ORNELA CONSTANTINI; FRANCISCO CÓRDOBA; CAFFE, P.J.

JOURNAL OF GEOCHEMICAL EXPLORATION

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2018

0375-6742

Salars of the Andean Plateau in the Central Andes are the largest lithium deposits on Earth. The most notorious arethe Chilean Salar de Atacama, and Uyuni in the Bolivian Altiplano. Despite the relevance of the region concerning thelithium resources, there is still scarce scientific literature on the hydrochemistry of lithium deposits in the Argentineportion of the Andean Plateau. In this article we present new hydrochemical data from the first regional-scalereconnaissance exploration of the four major salars in the northernmost Argentine Andes. Data revealed that brines inthe studied salars are characterized by mean Li concentrations ranging between 82 and 1,014 mg L-1, and meanLi:Mg ratios from 0.92 to 0.54. The size of the study salars becomes a potential limitation for the whole Li resources incomparison with the giant Atacama and Uyuni. Nonetheless, when considering the Li grade and the Li:Mg ratio ofbrines, the Northern Puna salars turn out to be very remarkable lithium prospects. Data emerged from this surveyrepresent a valuable tool for: 1) private investment projects by defining Li mining targets, 2) for the administration ofnatural resources and the definition of the State?s politics, and 3) for scientific purposes, especially in investigationsmeant to better understand the processes involved in the formation of Li brine deposits, salars, and endorheic basins.