The world of saline lake lithium resources mainly distributed  in Bolivia, Chile, Argentina. They  are located in South America Andes , holding 52.46% of the world total reserve base According to  statistics, the rest are in China, the United States and other countries. Important li-containning salt lakes of the world are Uyuni (Bolivia), Atacama(Chile), Hombre Muerto(Argentina) , taijnar and zabuye (China).The world's leading producer of lithium SQM(Chile), Chemtell( Germany) and  FMC (United States) are all in South America, Chemetall and SQM are respectively developing in two different area of the salt lake Atacama, as well as FMC is in Argentina Hombre Muerto salt lake, their output occupied 70% of lithium global market.

During scientific expeditions in South America, Ma Haizhou successively made field trip of Atacama, Hombre Muerto, Maricunga, Cauchari and Diablillos etc 12 salt lakes, especially check drilling core, construction of salt pan and process flow. They also made communication with executives and technical person of SQM, Lithium Americas Corp. (LAC) and Rodinia Minerals Inc.

They got a lot of perceptual knowledge of the formation and evolution and sedimentary characteristics of South America salt lake through the investigation, deepen the understanding of development and mining process of world-class lithium resource ,which made a great significance for ISL to participate in the research of South America salt lake ,explore suitable chemical way and develop new research field.