In a new interview with El Cronista, Martín Pérez Solvay, the CEO of the mining company that has been mining lithium in Argentina for the longest time, the Australian Allkem, warned that theWhite Gold Business Opportunity Will Only Last 20 Years. In the next two decades, it is assumed that the world will start looking for lithium to produce batteries and replace polluting gasoline and diesel cars with electric cars, but from the 1940s, the most profitable option will be to recycle these batteries, and no longer search for ore between the Andes and other corners of the world, a production that divides indigenous communities because of its impact on the use of water in areas where it is scarce. Allkem is one of seven Australian companies – the largest lithium-producing country on the planet – producing in Argentina. Together with the Canadians and the Chinese, they dominate the sector in our country.
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In a recent report by the Ministry of Mines, which leads Fernanda Avilaare mentioned the 36 projects which is added to the two already produced in Argentina: that of the Salar de Olaroz, Jujuy, by Allkem and el Fénix, in the Salar del Hombre Muerto, Catamarca, by the North American company Livent. Of this total of 38 initiatives, 12 appear companies from Australia, in another 12 those from Canada, another country where many mining companies were born; nine from China, the world’s third-largest lithium producer, behind Chile and immediately ahead of Argentina. In eight cases, national companies appear. Only in two, from the United States, while France, South Korea, the United Kingdom and Japan are in one each.
Allkem has investments in three projects: Salar de Olaroz, where Japanese automaker Toyota and state-owned Jujuy Energía y Minería (JEMSE) are minority partners; Sal de Vida, Catamarca, which is under construction of the mine; and Salar de Cauchari, Jujuy, which is in a pre-feasibility state. The other Australian companies present are Natural Resources (at Cauchari, Jujuy and Kachi, Catamarca, both in pre-feasibility), Galan Lithium (at Candelas and Salar del Hombre Muerto Oeste, Catamarca, in an earlier state of economic analysis), Argosy ( in Rincón, Salta, at the same stage) and those who are still in an initial phase of mining exploration in the region: Everlight (in Gallego, Salta), Latin Resources (associated with Integra Capital, of José Luis Manzano, in Ancasti, Catamarca), Lithium Energy Argentina (in Antofalla Norte, Catamarca) and PepinNini (in alliance with the Chinese company Sunresin in Pular, Salta).
On the side of Canadian companies, there is Lithium Americas, which in partnership with the Chinese company Gangfeng and JEMSE will soon start producing in Cauchari Olaroz and which also has Pastos Grandes, Salta, in feasibility, Sal de la Puna, Salta, in exploration, and Sincera, Catamarca, in the same stage; Lithium South, which in partnership with Sino Lithium Materials will operate the Salar del Hombre Muerto Norte, in the economic analysis phase, and which is exploring the Salar Escondido, Catamarca in Karachi; and other explorers like Argentina Lithium & Energy, in Arizaro, Salta and Incahuasi, Catamarca; Ultra Lithium, present in Laguna Verde, Catamarca, with the Chinese company Zangee; Origen Resources, in the only project in San Juan, Los Sapitos; Lithium Chili, in the Salar de Arizaro 2, Salta; and Alpha Lithium, in Salar Tolillar, Salta.
Among the Chinese is Ganfeng, not only in Cauchari Olaroz but also in Mariana, Salta, under construction, and Pozuelo, Salta, in economic study. Tsingshan also appears, in partnership with the French Eramet at Centenario Ratones, Salta, also under construction; Zijin, in Tres Quebradas, Catamarca, in the same stage; and Revotech, in the exploration of Sal de los Ángeles, Salta. Also included are the aforementioned Sino Lithium, Zangee and Sunresin.
The State of Jujuy JEMSE appears with a stake in two companies, but there are also private investments from Argentina. Not only Manzano, partner of Edenor, among other energy companies, and investor in media and mining. Pluspetrol, the Rey and Poli oil company, has several fields being explored: in Salinas Grandes, Jujuy, one of the areas where indigenous communities are resisting the activity; Sisifo and Patilla, Río Grande and Salar de Arizaro 1, all three in Salta. There is also a company called Minera Santa Rica, owned by a businessman by the name of Pablo Daniel Haddad, which is exploring Virgen del Valle Litio, in Catamarca.
Livent and Albemarle are from the United States, exploring in the Salar de Antofala, Catamarca. South Korean Posco works in Sal de Oro, Salta, under construction; and the British mining giant Rio Tinto, in Salar del Rincón, Salta, in the feasibility phase.
AR
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