2023-08-30 03:10:00
Argentina has 38 projects in its portfolio that have lithium as their main mineral. According to data from the Ministry of Mining, the vast majority are in the advanced exploration stage. The province with the largest number of initiatives is Salta, with 17 projects. See how they are distributed in the rest of the country.
In the ranking of ongoing projects, Salta ranks as the province with the most amount (17). It has two projects under construction, three in preliminary economic evaluation, ten in advanced exploration and two in feasibility. The data comes from the Information System Open to the Community on Mining Activity in Argentina (Siacam).
follows him Catamarca with 14 projects in portfolio: one in operation, two under construction, eight in advanced exploration, two in preliminary economic evaluation and one in pre-feasibility. On the border with Salta they have a project under construction (Sal de Oro).
Jujuy, for his part, has six projects underway: one under construction, one in advanced exploration, two in pre-feasibility and two in production. The last province in the ranking is San Juan, which has a project in the advanced exploration stage.
The three projects in the lithium carbonate (LCE) production stage in the country are: Fénix, which was put into operation in 1998 in the Salar de Hombre Muerto, from the company Livent in Catamarca. The second was the Salar de Olaroz de Sales de Jujuy y Allkem, which has been producing since 2018.
In June, that of Olaroz Cauchari, also in the province of Jujuy, from the Exar firm, was added. It can produce up to 40,000 tons of lithium carbonatebut it is not yet at full capacity. It is the largest in the country in operation.
The two oldest operating projects seek to expand their capacities. Sales de Jujuy will increase 25,000 tons, while Livent, in each of its two expansion phases, will add 20,000 tons.
As mentioned above, there are five initiatives under construction. Three of them are located in Salta: the project Centennial Micefrom the French Eramet in association with the Chinese Tsingshan, with a capacity of 24,000 tons of LCE; the mariana projectfrom the Chinese firm Ganfeng Lithium, with an estimated annual production of 10,000 tons of LCE.
Added to this is the Sal de Oro project, by the South Korean company Posco, which has already started the second phase of construction and it is managed bi-provincially between Salta and Catamarca.
The second province with projects under construction is Catamarca: has running salt of lifefrom the firm Allkem, which has an installed capacity of 25,000 tons of lithium carbonate and three ravinesfrom China’s Zijin Mining, with a production of 20,000 tons of the same product.
According to data from the Ministry of Energy, Argentina exports some 34,000 tons of lithium carbonate. In 2025, the country is expected to reach 200,000 tons of LCE thanks to the projects underway.
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