A hundred years ago, the world fought bloody wars over oil wells. Today, the battle is quieter, but no less intense. The new struggle isn’t for the oil fields in the deserts but in the salt flats of Chile, in the mountain mines of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and behind closed doors in the negotiation rooms in Beijing and Brussels. The major commodity at the centre of all is LITHIUM. It is lightweight, unglamorous and more crucial than ever. Where oil shaped the previous century through the combustion engine, Lithium is shaping the current one through the battery. And just as oil did not merely power cars but moulded entire geopolitical orders, lithium has already begun to redraw the map of global power.

Lithium’s importance to the 21st century is clear in a report of the World Energy Outlook. It says that global lithium demand is set to increase 40 times by 2040, and the battery market is expected to reach $400 billion by 2030. These high projected values indicate that the power dominance depends on using lithium (in EV batteries) in a technopolar world order, as lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese make up around 8 kg of a single EV battery. The “Lithium Triangle” in South America, which includes Chile, Bolivia and Argentina, holds over 50% of the global lithium reserves. Moreover, Australia alone holds 24% of the world’s lithium reserves. The very reason that makes the geography of these regions a centre of attraction for global powers (USA, China) and there is competition among them for........

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