Trade and tariff analytics
2026-04-26
11 min read
12 sources
The Lithium Triangle in 2026: Chile's Codelco Pivot, Argentina's Brine Build, Bolivia's Stalled DLE
Chile converted Atacama into a 50/50 Codelco-SQM JV, Argentina's Olaroz, Hombre Muerto, and Rincon expansions target 130,000 tonnes LCE in 2026, and Bolivia's CATL and Uranium One DLE pilots remain stalled despite 23 million tonnes of resource.
The lithium triangle holds roughly 56 percent of identified global lithium resources (USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025). Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia together accounted for about 28 percent of 2024 mine production of 240,000 tonnes lithium content, against Australia at 37 percent and China at 17 percent. Chile's April 2023 National ...