The Economist - USA (2019-10-05)

28 The Americas The EconomistOctober 5th 2019

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fluence.Theseincludeareformofcam-

paign financingand arequirement that

partiesholdprimaries.In Maycongress

preventedthecreationofanindependent

bodythatcouldstripcongressmenoftheir

immunityfromprosecution.

Hostilitiescametoa headlastmonth

whencongresstriedtoappointsixjudges

totheconstitutionalcourtfroma hastily

assembledlist,toreplaceagroupwhose

mandateshadexpiredinJune.MrVizcarra

sought to preventtheirappointmentby

seekinga voteofconfidenceinhisgovern-

ment.Anegativevotewouldhaveallowed

himtodissolvecongress.Thelegislators

didnottakethebait.Sowhentheyvotedto

appointthefirstjudge,MrVizcarratook

thatasa denialofconfidenceinthegovern-

mentanddissolvedcongress.

Manyconstitutionallawyersquestion

whetherhehada righttousethatpretext.

Buthewillprobablygetawaywithit.The

headsofthearmedforcesandthepolice

havepubliclybackedhim,ashavetheasso-

ciationsrepresentinggovernorsandmay-

ors.Hisdismissalofa despisedcongress

maylifthisapprovalratingfromjustunder

50%.Preparationsfora congressionalelec-

tioninJanuaryhavealreadybegun.

Theresultsareunpredictable.The(ex-

pired)constitutionalcourtmayruleonthe

legalityofcongress’sdissolution,perhaps

aftera newoneiselected.Thatmightcause

chaos.Itispossiblethatvoterswillchoose

a morebiddablecongress,willingtoback

MrVizcarra’sreforms.Butthereislittlerea-

sonto believethatacaretakercongress,

whichwouldserveuntilJuly2021,willbe

morepublic-spiritedthanthecurrentone.

Thedarkdaysof 1992 havenotreturned,

butthefutureislookingcloudy. 7

T

he47,000InuitwholiveinCanada’s

ArcticspeakfivedialectsofInuktutand

useninewritingsystems.Thedialectsare

similar enough that an Inuk fromone

groupcanpuzzleoutwhata speakerfrom

anotherissaying.Thewritingsystems,in-

ventedbyChristianmissionariesstarting

inthe18thcentury,arebiggerbarriersto

comprehension. Three use syllabics—

characters to represent syllables—rather

thantheromanalphabet.Bothsystemscan

be supplemented with diacritical marks

thatmodifypronunciationandmeaning.

Communicationisdifficultandtranslating

textbooksandgovernmentdocumentsex-

pensive.

Partlybecauseofthesedifficulties,In-

uktut, a group of languages spoken by

39,000Inuit,isgivinggroundtoEnglish.In

Nunavut,thenorthernmostCanadianter-

ritory,wheremostInuitlive,notallschools

offerclassesinInuktuteventhoughthe

territory has mandated bilingualeduca-

tionby2020.Mostphonesandkeyboards

needextrasoftwaretohandlesyllabics,so

OTTAWA

TheInuitagreeona writingsystem

Indigenouslanguages

Northography

C

hile’s economicboom is copper-bot-

tomed. Since pre-colonial times people

have worked the metal. Today Chile pro-

duces 28% of the world’s output. The in-

dustry accounts for almost 10% of gdp,

48% of exports and a third of foreign direct

investment. Copper has helped make Chil-

eans the richest people in South America.

Politicians, however, dream of doing

more than exporting unrefined commod-

ities. In 2016 Michelle Bachelet, then the

president, announced a plan to encourage

manufacturing and innovation at home

through the use of another metal that Chile

has in abundance: lithium. This is used in

batteriesformobilephones, laptops and

electric cars. The idea was for Chile not

only to mine the metal but also to make

components for car batteries, the fastest-

growing part of the market.

A recent slump in global lithium prices,

caused by growth in supply outstripping

demand, has sharpened the incentive to

move up the value chain. In June Ms Bache-

let’s successor, Sebastián Piñera, said that a

new national lithium plan is in the works.

So far, these ambitions have been unful-

filled, showing how hard it is for small

countries to ascend global supply chains.

Both presidents’ plans involve renego-

tiating deals with miners to oblige them to

help the battery industry. In 2017 Chile’s

economic-development agency, Corfo, re-

negotiated its contract with Albemarle, an

American firm that is the world’s biggest

lithium producer. The new deal allowed it

to expand production at its brine operation

in the Salar de Atacama salt flat in northern

Chile. In return, the firm agreed to sell up to

25% of its output at low prices to makers of

car batteries operating in Chile.

In July, however, Corfo confirmed that

three corporate investors, including Sam-

sung, a South Korean giant, would not go

ahead with plans to produce battery cath-

ode materials in the country. Chile is trying

again. Under a new contract, sqm, a Chil-

ean firm, is offering a quarter of its produc-

tion at a discount to buyers who invest in

technology for more types of battery, not

just the ones used in cars. It is not clear that

this plan will fare any better.

Chile is too far from the manufacturers

that are hungriest for batteries, many of

which are in China. Carmakers especially

need producers close by to co-operate on

improving battery capacity. And lithium is

only one of the materials required. Chilean

battery-makers would have to import other

components like nickel and cobalt.

It does not help that almost nobody in

Latin America is yet producing, or indeed

buying, electric cars. It might be wiser to

focus on producing simpler lithium-rich

battery parts for energy-storage systems

that could take advantage of the Atacama

desert’s large solar-power potential, sug-

gests José Lazuen of Roskill, a consultancy.

Regulations are another problem. Chile

classifies lithium as “strategic”, because it

can be used in nuclear fusion. The nuclear-

energy commission limits the quantity of

metal that can be mined. That is a worry for

battery-makers that might want to expand.

In the past decade Chile’s share of global

lithium production has dropped from 40%

to 20%. Although Chile has dozens of salt

flats, only a few have been studied for their

lithium-bearing potential. Brine-based

lithium, of the sort mined in Chile, is more

difficult to convert into the chemicals used

for car batteries than is Australia’s output,

extracted from rock. Mining also risks

wrecking salt flats’ ecosystems.

Even as Chile strives to create a lithium-

battery industry, scientists are trying to in-

vent better batteries that use other materi-

als. Moving up from mining is harder than

it seems. 7

SANTIAGO

Can lithium charge up the economy?

Chile and lithium

Just-in-brine

production

Salt, but no battery