Wired UK - 11.2019

Because of the altitude, Maisel had to hire a much larger aircraft than he usually uses for his projects

• a former medical rescue plane that had enough room for a stretcher between him and the pilots. When
  on the ground, the team returned to their base in the port of Antofagasta. From the window of his
  ­accommodation,­Maisel­says­he­could­watch­the­next­step­of­the­journey­for­the­lithium­extracted­from­
  operations in the desert, like the one below. “Right outside my window, along the ocean, were these tankers
  getting­filled­up­with­all­this­material­that’s­being­mined­–­all­these­tankers­going­to­China,”­he­says.­
  “It’s­part­of­a­global­economy,­and­it­comes­back­from­China­in­the­form­of­batteries.”­

11-19-FTlithium.indd 110 13/08/2019 16:59