MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mining company pledges to invest US $ 34 million in lithium plant in northern Argentina

Ganfeng Lithium is arguably among the largest in the world in the production of lithium and batteries.

A local subsidiary of China's Ganfeng Lithium has purchased a 23-hectare property in the General Güemes Industrial Park in the northwestern Argentine province of Salta, it was announced.

The company reportedly plans to achieve a production capacity of 20 thousand tons of lithium chloride per year under the local franchise Litio Minera Argentina, which is expected to generate 195 jobs.

The Chinese firm has pledged to invest US$34 million in their new plant, which is expected to be operational in five years.

“Today we are moving forward with the acquisition from the province of 23 hectares of land in the General Güemes Industrial Park, which will be used for the construction of a lithium chloride industrial plant,” said Simón Pérez Alsina, Vice President of Litio Minera Argentina.

Ganfeng Lithium is arguably among the largest in the world in the production of lithium and batteries.

The documents related to the purchase of the land to settle the factory were signed Monday by Pérez Alsina on behalf of the developers and Pablo Outes, Coordinator of Liaison and Political Relations of Salta's provincial government.

“It is important the impulse that we can give from the State as an incentive and the control that we exercise over the companies, in the hiring of local workers and the support to SMEs, so that they become suppliers for this activity,” said Outes.

It is estimated that the plant will be fully operational in approximately five years and that the construction process of this industry will have an enormous economic impact at the local level since the vast majority will demand local suppliers.

Pérez Alsina concurred, adding it was company policy to hire local suppliers and labour.

Salta Secretary of Industry, Commerce and Employment Nicolás Avellaneda, highlighted that in the last ten days this is the second company to have purchased a property in the Güemes Industrial Park. “We are satisfied because it is an investment of US $ 34 million and this will bring greater investments, which in the coming years will be reflected,” he said.

Avellaneda also explained that the bidding documents which will allow the construction of the Multimodal Logistics Node in Güemes, adjacent to the Industrial Park and the Free Trade Zone, are to be finalized soon.

“The Logistics Node is approved and endorsed by the World Bank, as an industrial and commercial strategic point for the entire northern region of Argentina and the mining industry will be a part of this great project,” he said.

The Güemes Industrial Park is projected as one of the most important industrial development poles in the Northwest, due to its strategic position within the bi-oceanic corridor.

The realization of the Logistics Node will facilitate logistics and distribution of goods, both for domestic and international trade, while the Dry Port will allow exports directly from the NOA.