French mining group Eramet and China’s Tsingshan on Wednesday inaugurated a lithium manufacturing plant in Argentina to provide the booming electrical automobile trade.
The location within the northwestern province of Salta represents an funding of $870 million {dollars}, Eramet mentioned.
The plant just isn’t a conventional mine nor one of many environmentally damaging salt flats from which the metallic utilized in electrical batteries is generally extracted in South America’s so-called lithium triangle of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.
As an alternative, it makes use of an modern “direct extraction” methodology, in accordance with Eramet.
The plant is anticipated to supply as much as 24,000 tons of battery-grade lithium carbonate per 12 months at full capability, Eramet CEO Christel Bories advised AFP—sufficient for 600,000 electrical automobile batteries.
In 2021, when Eramet introduced it was reviving the mission with Tsingshan, delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, Bories mentioned the plant was anticipated to fulfill 15 p.c of Europe’s lithium wants.
Manufacturing is deliberate to start out in November with 350 workers.
Argentina is the fourth-biggest producer of the so-called “white gold”, after Australia, Chile and China.
© 2024 AFP
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