Chile's Lithium Nationalization Impacts Tech and Industry Leaders.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric's plan to nationalize the country's lithium industry is driving attention to direct lithium extraction (DLE) technologies that aim to revolutionize how the metal is produced for the electric vehicle industry. DLE technologies are designed to extract lithium from salty brines using filters, membranes, ceramic beads, or other equipment that can typically be housed in a small warehouse. Boric's move represents the biggest vote of confidence to date in the commercially unproven suite of technologies given plans to deploy it across Chile's vast lithium reserves, the world's largest. The goal for Boric and the DLE industry is to extract lithium from brine and reinject what is left back underground, in a closed loop process that does not affect water tables.