Riding the wave of the lithium boom, the
Eramine mining company will be the first to start producing the so-called “white gold” in the province of Salta
. It will do so in the Centenario Ratones project, located in the Los Andes department, at about 4,000 meters above sea level, which
will require an investment of US$ 800 million.
The closest town to the mine is 75 kilometers away, has 300 inhabitants and is called Santa Rosa de los Pastos Grandes.
Eramine Sudamericana has been in Argentina for 12 years in the construction of the lithium project. The firm is the subsidiary of
the French company Eramet and a strategic partner of the Chinese company Tsingshan.
Eramet, which has the majority shareholding in Eramine, is the largest producer of
manganese
in the world and is also dedicated to the extraction of
nickel
in Indonesia and New Caledonia.
Regarding China, the interest in investing in lithium is understandable given that it has the largest number of electric car battery factories. In fact, the latest
fluctuation in international lithium prices
was linked to a drop in Asian demand for electrically powered vehicles.
In a meeting with the press, Constanza Cintioni Ovejero, sustainability director of Eramine Sudamericana, commented that
the first phase of production of the Centenario Ratones project will begin in July
. In this first stage, a production capacity of 24,000 tons of battery-grade liters is planned, which will provide inputs for around
600,000 electric car batteries.
So far, the
mine's progress level is 92.5%
and it employs about 1,600 people in construction. Although when it enters the production stage the number will be reduced to about 350 employees. According to Eramine's projections, by the end of this year,
the company could produce and export around 4 million tons.
Asked about her vision on the future of electromobility, the director commented that "although it is a very volatile market" in which prices rise and fall, there is a consolidated demand not only for electric cars but also for batteries that require other types of electronic devices, he explained.
In the country, there are
only two lithium projects in production:
Fénix, located in the province of Catamarca, and Olaroz, in Jujuy, which began exporting the mineral in 2015. In parallel, there are several dozen projects in different stages, of which which four are under exploration.
The Centenario Ratones is the
first to go into production in the province of Salta.
The project has a life expectancy of more than 40 years and according to the company's directors, it is the first in the country whose production will be obtained 100% through
the direct extraction method, that is, without the need for evaporation in the brine.
NE