Chile: Albemarle Launches Environmental Review for Atacama DLE Project

Albemarle has launched the environmental review for its Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) project in Chile’s Salar de Atacama. The plan aims to increase lithium recovery while reducing brine extraction, addressing long-standing concerns over water use and ecological impacts.

For the salt industry, DLE technology connects lithium output with industrial salt and by-product streams. Wider adoption of DLE may tighten specifications on impurity handling and shape how producers manage waste-salt flows and community water budgets in the future.