Lithium is used to make lightweight, high-powered batteries for mobile phones, laptops and increasingly, hybrid and electric cars. Demand is expected to triple in the next 15 years. With an estimated 50 to 70 per cent of the world's lithium supply buried in the salt flats of Uyuni, Bolivia is poised to capitalise on its new-found status as the 'Saudi Arabia of lithium'.

Foreign governments and multinationals such as Mitsubishi and LG have expressed interest in investing in lithium mining in Bolivia. Its socialist government, however, means to tread lightly on the Salar de Uyuni to avoid foreign profiteering that ignores the indigenous communities that make up the majority of Bolivia's population. Bolivia has invested $6 million in a plant in Uyuni to go operational by the end of this year, and has so far only accepted technical advice from abroad.

PICS: RABI THAPA

PASS THE SALT: Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni spreads over 10,582 square kilometres in the remote southwest of the country and contains an estimated 100 million tons of lithium.

ROCK POOL: Miners extract the floating lithium from salty evaporation ponds filled with water from the underground lake beneath the fields, a process that takes about two months.

SCALING UP: Salt miners have long worked on the salt fields of Uyuni for a pittance, but the advent of industrial scale lithium mining could ring in the changes for the economy of Bolivia, the poorest country in South America.

REMOTE ATTRACTION: About 60,000 tourists visit Uyuni annually to marvel at its surreal mixture of tinted lakes, salt flats, volcanoes, hot springs and flamingos.

MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP/GETTY IMAGE NEW GENERATION: The burgeoning market for hybrid and electric vehicles will depend on a regular supply of lithium for battery cells.