Mining indigenous territories: Consensus, tensions and ambivalences in the Salar de Atacama

•Historical and ethnographic methods applied to mining-community relations in Salar de Atacama.•Indigenous positions understood through concept of “ambivalence, not contradiction”.•Territorial struggles concern water, biodiversity, identity, and benefits sharing.•Lithium company-community agreements generate inter- and intra- community tensions.•The ethics of a lithium-powered energy transition must be critically examined.