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Location: 135 NE from Copiapó, Chile
Alameda Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins 1449 Tower 2, 9th floor, Santiago DowntownPO Box 150-D1SantiagoChile
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Salar de Maricunga is a mixed style salar. An upper halite unit occurs (up to 34 m in thickness) in the central northern part of the Salar and hosts the upper brine aquifer. The halite unit is underlain by low permeability lacustrine sediments. The Salar is surrounded by relative coarse grained alluvial and fluvial sediments. These fans demark the perimeter of the actual salar and at depth grade towards the centre of the Salar where they form the distal facies with an increase in sand and silt. At depth two unconsolidated volcanoclastic units have been identified that appear quite similar. These two volcanoclastic units are separated by a relatively thin and continuous sand unit which may be reworked material of the lower volcanoclastic unit. A volcanic breccia was identified on the northern and western parts of the OCC that locally interfingers with the lower volcanoclastic unit. A lower brine aquifer is hosted in the lower alluvial, volcanoclastic, and volcanic breccia units (below the lacustrine sediments).MineralizationThe brines from Maricunga are solutions nearly saturated in sodium chloride with an average concentration of total dissolved solids (TDS) of 311 g/L. The average density is 1.20 g/cm3. Other components present in the Maricunga brine are: K, Li, Mg, Ca, SO4, HCO3 and B. Elevated values of strontium (mean of 359 mg/L) also have been detected.Brine quality is evaluated through the relationship of the elements of commercial interest, such as lithium and potassium, with those components that in some respect constitute impurities, such as Mg, Ca and SO4. The brines from Maricunga have an Mg/Li ratio (6.5) very similar to the Atacama brine (6.4). However, Maricunga has a low sulphate content, which is illustrated by the very low molar ratio (SO4+2B)/(Mg+Ca) that is also influenced by a relatively high calcium content.This is an advantage as it will reduce lithium losses as lithium sulphate salts in the ponds for the conventional solar evaporation process.
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