Activation of the first large-scale project in Patagonia

Obsession with technology and cars Argentine lithium control It continues to accelerate the decline of foreign companies offering strong financial backing, and continues to position itself in regions where the metal has been verified. Interest in obtaining the mineral expanded the mining map and controlled national mining It is already practiced in Salta, Jujuy and Catamarca by various companies from Canada, Australia and China Significantly, it is now one step away from joining a series of projects slated for Patagonia.

These undertakings, the first to be implemented in the south of the country, will be promoted in the region Approximately 500,000 hectares distributed between Rio Negro, Chubut and Neuquén. The entire initiative will be borne by the Canadian company Green Shift Commodities, which will explore for solid shale lithium deposits discovered by the Argentine government in the early 1960s.

Green Shift Commodities will operate in the designated area in partnership with local company Formentera SA and Electric Metals SA, two companies that lead site mining in areas such as Rio Negro. The CEO of the projects, indicated that the companies that will participate in the exploitation, will be located around the town of Mamuel Chuek, in the province of Urquinco, Rio Negro.

If finally extracted in Patagonia, It will be the first shale lithium project to start in Argentina. So far, the publication of mining companies interested in this material has only focused on the Buna salt flats system.

Canadians expand into Argentine lithium

Besides this movement in the south, another company from that country, Lithium Americas, owner of the Pastos Grandes lithium project in Salta, reports that it is negotiating the purchase of Arena Minerals, the company that today controls Sal de la Puna, another project around the same mineral in the region salad.

the operation, It would approach a figure of approximately $230 millionthat would lead to the subsequent development of a processing plant to produce at least 10,000 tons of lithium carbonate suitable for battery production.

“This synergy to unite the two projects generates a very important interest for us because it involves high investments, especially in the construction of the pools and the plant,” Ignacio El Lorio, President of Lithium Americas Latin America, said recently.

With three companies already in the local lithium mining circuit, Canada is the second in the list of countries with the largest involvement in the exploitation of this mineral in Argentina.

It is behind Canada, with China adding two, followed by Great Britain, South Korea, the United States, France and Japan. Only Australia, which has a presence in the extraction of materials through 6 companies of this science, is located above the Canadian capital with a power over Argentine lithium.

Argentine Lithium: The Landing of India

To the undisguised progress shown by the capitals of Chinese, Australian and Canadian origin, was added the recent arrival from India of corporate representatives and government officials in order to assess the purchase of deposits in northern Argentina. specific, An Indian mission has already arrived in the province of Catamarca It is estimated that during the first quarter of 2023 they will also pay visits to the Jujuy and Salta salt flats.

In the latter part of November, Raul Jalil, Chief of Catamarca Province, held meetings with Dinesh Bhatia, the current Ambassador of India to Argentina, and Cain State Corporation with a view to identifying investments for mineral extraction in that region. .

Of the Catamarca Minera y Energética Sociedad del Estado (CAMYEN), the company set up by the Catamarca government to encourage mining in that region, its owner, Susana Peralta, admitted that India “intends to invest in the mining of lithium and the minerals gold and copper”. He emphasized that the executives and officials of that country, Started a tour of Antofagasta de la Sierra and Tenugasta To assess potential deposit opening.

As far as he can knowiProfessional pIn addition to Kabil’s employees, representatives of the Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd. (MECL) and geoscientists from the Geological Survey of India (GSI) on technical expeditions around Antofagasta de la Sierra and Tinogasta.