Salinas Grandes

Salinas Grandes, North-West Argentina. This 212 square kilometre salt desert is located between the provinces of Jujuy and Salta at an altitude of 3,450 meters, not far from the borders with Chile and Bolivia.

Local communities live out of the salt extraction-related activities and are actively fighting against the initiatives to start lithium extraction, which would bring serious contamination to the water and natural resources in the area and lead to a steep decline in groundwater levels, threatening local farming.

Here salt is used for both human consumption as well as a construction material: salt blocks are used by locals to build houses and huts around the area of the salt flat.