La iniciativa de cooperación germano-chilena busca transformar la forma en que se estudian y aprovechan los recursos críticos presentes en salares y sistemas geotérmicos del norte de Chile.

The BRIDGE project brings together leading institutions such as the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, alongside Chilean partners such as the National Geology and Mining Service (SERNAGEOMIN), in a collaboration aimed at developing new methodologies for the sustainable extraction of critical raw materials, especially lithium.

The research focuses on natural fluids —such as brines, salt lakes, and geothermal systems— which could represent a strategic source of lithium without requiring highly invasive conventional processes. Currently, extraction in the Atacama Desert relies mainly on solar evaporation, a technique that requires extensive surface use and only achieves partial recovery of the resource.

In response to this challenge, the BRIDGE project is exploring technological alternatives such as direct lithium extraction, which enables the selective separation of minerals from solutions using specialized materials, avoiding long evaporation periods and significantly reducing impacts on ecosystems. These processes also consider the reinjection of brines, promoting a more sustainable hydrological balance.

During a recent field campaign in the Atacama Desert, researchers from Chile and Germany collected samples from salt flats such as Salar de Ollagüe, Salar de Carcote, and Salar de Ascotán, analyzing their chemical and isotopic composition. This work has contributed to a deeper understanding of these systems and to evaluating their potential for more efficient and responsible mining.

The collaboration, coordinated together with National Geology and Mining Service, has also strengthened local technical capacities through knowledge transfer and specialized equipment, consolidating a strategic alliance between the scientific community, the public sector, and international research centers.

The BRIDGE project is framed within a global context in which the security of critical raw materials supply —driven, among other factors, by the European Critical Raw Materials Act— requires progress toward more sustainable, transparent, and socially responsible extraction models.