Beneath Bolivia's Salt Flats: Lithium Wealth

Eerie but Valuable
High in the Andes, in a remote corner of Bolivia, lies Salar de Uyuni, a salt flat where geologists have discovered a vast supply of lithium, an unusual mineral that is used to make the lithium-ion batteries that power most portable electronic devices manufactured today. This same technology is also expected to find wide application in the production of the electric cars that figure prominently in the business plans of all of the world's top automakers.

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