RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Chinese mining company Ganfeng Lithium announced on Wednesday, June 16, that it will invest US$600 million in a lithium exploration project in the northern Argentinean province of Salta.
According to official sources, the investment project was presented to the governor of Salta, Gustavo Sáenz, by Jason Luo and Simón Pérez Alsina, president and vice-president, respectively, of Litio Minera Argentina, the local subsidiary of Ganfeng Lithium.
The disbursements will be oriented to the construction of a lithium brine processing plant in Salar de Llullaillaco and another lithium carbonate plant in the industrial park of the city of Güemes, Salta.
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The construction project is expected to employ 1,300 people directly and 3,000 indirectly.
According to a press release issued by the government of Salta, this will be “the first project in the world to be supplied with solar energy through the construction of a park next to the project.”
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The logistics of the project, whose production will be export-oriented, will be carried out by rail and for this purpose, a freight branch line will be rehabilitated that passes through the entire Puna Salta region until it reaches Chile through the Socompa pass.