Community relations
and human rights

The ‘lithium triangle’ houses nearly 60% of the world’s lithium resources, and because of its use in clean energy technologies (like EV batteries), the region is experiencing a significant increase in global demand. However, lithium extraction in South America often occurs in ecologically sensitive high-altitude salt flats, often on ancestral Indigenous territories, adjacent to Indigenous or rural communities.

A team from the Sustainable Minerals Institute’s Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining has launched a new teaching and learning resource promoting awareness and understanding of the rapidly changing low-carbon energy transition dynamics across the Arctic.

The Sustainable Minerals Institute International Centre of Excellence in Chile (SMI-ICE-Chile) has partnered with the world’s largest copper mining company, CODELCO, to help them achieve six United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

New research suggests that increased demand for energy transition metals (ETMs) could be more disruptive to some communities than winding back production of thermal coal.

Despite more than 60 per cent of Australian mines located near Indigenous communities it is only in the last couple of decades that Industry has taken a more proactive approach to increasing Indigenous employment.

Read on for two project updates from the Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation of the Sustainable Minerals Institute.

The global database that highlights supply risk for critical metals