Salar de Atacama
The world's biggest lithium brine operation.
- Material
- Lithium
- Stage
- Mine
- Place
- Antofagasta Region, Chile
- Operator
- SQM–Codelco (Nova Andino Litio), Albemarle
- Coordinates
- 23.47° S, 68.35° W (approximate)
Seen from orbit
- Heat
- 0 of the last 7 days and 0 of the last 30 had furnace-hot pixels within 6 km (NASA FIRMS).
- Surface temperature
- Landsat, 17 Oct 2026: typical ground 32.5 °C; 81.7 ha more than 8 °C warmer than the land around it; hottest spot 16.0 °C above it.
- Radar
- Latest Sentinel-1 radar picture: 26 Oct 2026.
Signals show activity, not output. They are measured automatically and can be affected by weather, terrain and fires.
Facts
- Brine evaporation ponds large enough to pick out easily from orbit
- Held about 27% of the world's lithium reserve base (2008 estimate)
- Chile mined about 49,000 t of lithium in 2024, second only to Australia (USGS)