Chile

Salar de Atacama salt lake is said to hold 27% of the world's proven reserves, making Chile the number one exporter of the metal.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-next-opec-10-commodity-exporting-countries-that-will-have-the-worse-in-a-vise-2010-1#chile-12#ixzz1ANuIr7b8

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/1124/034.html

Bolivia

“Alongside Chile, Bolivia is the other huge lithium country. The tiny South American country with a socialist President may control 50% of the world's quantity”.

Salar de Uyuni salt lake - salt and lithium

approx. 300+km from Proyecto mARTadero in Cochabamba

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/02/03/world/0203-LITHIUM_index.html

Lithium is more difficult and time-consuming to mine in some regions than others. In Bolivia, it is frequently mixed in with magnesium, which is very hard and expensive to evaporate and then separate. Lithium is found in higher concentrations in Chile and Argentina, where it has actually become a profitable business. If the lithium doesn’t evaporate easily in normal conditions, it could be cost prohibitive to mine