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The Salar de Uyuni is a huge salt desert which, with its 10,582 km², is among the largest deserts in the world, as well as by far the largest salt expanse on the planet. It is located in the departments of Potosí and Oruro, near the city of Uyuni, in the southern Andean plateau of Bolivia, at an altitude of 3,650 metres.
The Salar de Uyuni is estimated to contain 10 billion tons of salt of which less than 25,000 tons are mined annually. It consists of approximately 11 layers with thicknesses ranging between 2 and 10 metres, the surface layer having a thickness of 10 metres. It represents a third of the planet's lithium reserves and contains significant amounts of potassium, boron and magnesium. About 40,000 years ago it was part of Lake Minchin, a giant prehistoric lake.