Felipe Saavedra is a member of the research team led by the C+ Engineering Center at Universidad del Desarrollo that has just been awarded the “2024 Thematic Research Ring Competition in Lithium and Salt Flats” from ANID.
The project, entitled “Observatory of Andean Salt flats through Interdisciplinary Studies (OASIS),” was awarded the “2024 Thematic Research Ring Competition in Lithium and Salt Flats,” by the National Research and Development Agency (ANID). For it, researchers will carry out geological, microbiological and ecological studies in the high Andean salt flats of Maricunga, Laguna Verde and Laguna del Negro Francisco to study minerals, waters and existing microbial communities. This research seeks to establish quantifiable parameters that are useful for decision-making and, in this way, safeguard the environmental balance when mining lithium or other metals.
A team of researchers from Chilean and international universities and research centres will participate in the OASIS project: Mauricio Calderón and María Estrella Alcamán from the UDD C+ Engineering Center will be the project directors; Gonzalo Galaz from Universidad de Atacama, Orietta Nicolis, from Universidad Andrés Bello, Fernanda Álvarez, from Universidad de Concepción, Ivo Fustos from Universidad de la Frontera, and Felipe Saavedra, leader of the SMI-ICE-Chile Environmental Rehabilitation team will be the main researchers; Anelize Bahniuk, director of the LAMIR Institute at the Federal University of Paraná, Adina Paytan, from the University of California in Santa Cruz (USA), and José Manuel Pérez Donoso and Cristóbal Ramírez de Arellano, from Universidad Andrés Bello will also collaborate in the research.
Felipe Saavedra explains how this research responds to the urgent need for a more sustainable energy future, where the lithium in the high Andean salt flats plays a key role. “In this context, the OASIS project is a pioneering initiative that delves into the intricate web of life of these ecosystems, seeking to understand their delicate ecological balance and guide sustainable practices in lithium mining, a mineral crucial for the energy transition,” says the SMI-ICE-Chile researcher who is part of this project.
See full note from the UDD C+ Engineering Center
