Over the last decades the struggle for indigenous rights has accomplished great achievements within international law. In relation to development projects and resource extraction on indigenous lands, the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) has gained increased recognition and is today expressed as an important instrument to realize indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination. Nevertheless, empirical evidence have identified power asymmetries as one of the major obstacles for effective and meaningful FPIC implementation. This study investigates how power asymmetries emerge and affect the right to self-determination through the four FPIC requirements. Based on field research and by applying a relational approach, the study investigates a case of mining activities in northwestern Argentina where indigenous communities currently experience an increased interest in lithium deposits on their lands from transnational corporations. The study shows how relations characterized by dependency and clientelism create a situation where actors hold unequal power positions which permeate all FPIC requirements severely undermining the principle’s potential to fulfill its purpose. Lastly, based on the findings the study argues substantial underpinnings in terms of necessary preconditions are needed if FPIC are to be able to ensure self-determination.

Mining is at the base of green technologies for a more sustainable future; however, responsible mining is not often achieved. This exploratory case study focuses on the case of the agreement between the US American mining company Albemarle and the local Indigenous communities that formed the Council of the Atacameño People, in Northern Chile. This agreement is part of Albemarle’s Corporate Social Responsibility approach and is seen as one of the positive examples of practices working towards mining that benefits the local community and limits the effects on the local environment. This case is explored through a deductive thematic analysis to explore and define the nature of the agreement: whether it can be classified as a cooperation or collaboration, after which the experiences of the Indigenous communities will be studied in a summative content analysis of social media posts which is visualized in a word cloud. The analysis shows that the agreement can be classified as a collaboration, however with important elements that are cooperative. Although this means that the agreement aims to include the Indigenous communities in several ways, it also highlights the fact that the Indigenous communities are not equal in the agreement and their goals are considered less in the process. The studied social media posts show that the Indigenous communities have shifted their perspective of Albemarle seemingly positively, notwithstanding that there are increasing expressions of worry about the future existence as communities. This thesis concludes that even though the agreement sounds promising on paper, the experiences of the Indigenous communities in the area are still that they are risking losing their culture and ecosystem. The local communities have formally consented to the mining practices by signing the agreements, but there is dissent among community members regarding their true attitudes. This is extremely worrisome as this thesis is focused on one of the most positive examples of CSR efforts within mining companies.

Because of its specific qualities, lithium is a key element for making lithium-ion batteries, which is of great relevance since the battery sector is the fastest growing user of lithium to date and with the transition towards a fully electrified transportation sector due to the current climate agenda and an even bigger increase in demand for lithium is anticipated for the coming decades. The two main sources for lithium to date are mines and brines, with brine water composing around 87 % of the world’s lithium reserves in terms of contained lithium. Salars, dominantly large salt flats in South America, provide the type of brine water that has a high concentration of lithium. These salars occur primarily in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile (the ABC-triangle), where solid lithium-compounds occur dominantly as evaporate minerals such as lithium carbonates. Lithium from salars is recovered with natural evaporation and salar-derived lithium-salts generally have a higher purity than lithium derived from pegmatite mining. However, the process of lithium extraction from salars much slower than mining lithium from pegmatite, although large amounts of energy are required and large amounts of waste rock material is produced in the process. Lithium also occurs in geothermal waters and in seawater, but at far lower concentrations then in pegmatites or salar brines, which thus requires large processing efforts to be economically attractive.The purpose of this study is to provide a modern update based on the lithium production data in metric tons from recent years and interpolate the lithium production for the remaining part of the century. Then I will assess the difference between the projections from the study by Vikström et al. 2014, that were previously used to estimate possible future production rates annually, and current production and availability estimates. To achieve this, the present study will compare the different sources of lithium all over the world, mainly hard rock and brine, with a focus on the geological aspects and the EU from a financial aspect. This thesis thus aims to assess future production trends based on most recent data on geological availability, which will be retrieved from The United States Geological Survey, and earlier forecasts with the purpose to investigate if and how previous forecasts will need to change in respect to various resource availability. The production data ranging from 1900 to 2010 from the previous study by Vikström et al., on which the previous forecast production is based on, is updated with data from 2011 to 2019. With the addition of the more recent data, a similar forecast projection will be made using the same mathematical models (logistic, Gompertz and Richards).