In 2023, the Argentine crude oil exporter Pan American Energy announced its plans to start exploring for lithium in Argentina’s Jujuy and Salta provinces. Sources told Mongabay that the company did not conduct an adequate free, prior and informed consultation (FPIC) with affected communities before beginning to explore for lithium on their ancestral land.

By Aimee Gabay.

According to members of Atacama and Kolla Indigenous communities near Argentina’s copious lithium reserves, their rights to a healthy environment and self-determination have been ignored for over 15 years.

Arguments over proper consultation rose to the surface in the Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc saltwater basin in northwestern Argentina, as mining companies showed interest in exploring the region in search of rich lithium reserves.

Back in 2023, one of those companies, Lition Energy, was granted a permit to explore for the mineral at its Agonic Mine. According to local sources, consent was given after consulting with only one of the two communities directly impacted by the initiative.

As told to Mongabay by Lition Energy via email, “the Agonic Mine has all the required legal permits; otherwise, we would not have been able to carry out our exploration work.” On its website, the company claims it aims to establish a relationship of mutual trust with communities and focuses on community strengthening and local development.

Nonetheless, most of the wider region’s 33 Indigenous communities are fiercely opposed to mining. From Salta to Jujuy, these groups depend on the land and its resources for subsistence and economic development.