Lithium, Salar de Atacama (Chile)

Beneath the most arid salt crust on the planet, SQM and Albemarle pump the brine that feeds a major share of the world's batteries. But the lithium carbonate leaves almost entirely to be refined and turned into cathodes in Asia: Chile sells a raw salt and buys back finished cells. The resource crops out at Atacama; the chemistry that gives it its value plays out in Yichun and Ningde.