Tesla and lithium batteries from Catamarca

When lithium was linked only to human health To treat bipolar people, a US company set sail for Catamarca and began its first business in 1998 in the Salar del Hombre Muerto, in the municipality of Antofagasta de la Sierra, at over 4,000 meters above sea level. The operation began under the name of FMC-Minera del Altiplano, which was subsequently spun off and is now the Wall Street-listed Livent Corporation. It employs 1,500 people and obtains high quality lithium carbonate and chloride thanks to its sophisticated high-tech system which allows it to carry out a process that results in a purity of 99%. Its main customers are Tesla and Elon Musk’s BMW. Together with the replacement of fossil fuels in cars, Livent will expand its production capacity with the so-called Phoenix Project in the Salar del Hombre Muerto and add another 20,000 tons. Following this expansion, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2025, Livent’s operations in Argentina will have a total annual lithium carbonate capacity of 60,000 tons and 9,000 tons of lithium chloride. The investment is $ 1.1 billion and they have already disbursed $ 645 million.

Faced with resistance to offshore oil exploration in Mar del Plata, the industry has published a study on the economic impact of potential hydrocarbon discoveries in the basins of northern Argentina and the western Malvinas. They assure that it could have an economic impact equivalent to 3.6% of GDP in the years with the highest level of production and export of the resource, with its benefit in the trade balance, in the creation of employment and in the development of other productive sectors. The work It is called Economic Impact of Offshore Hydrocarbon Development in Argentina, which was prepared by the consulting firm Ecolatina. In the case of the Northern Argentina Basin, it has been estimated that GDP growth would range from 0.24% in case of discovery to 1.88% in the maximum exercise of 10 discoveries, on the average of the total development , while in the specific year of the highest level of production and sales, GDP would grow between 0.36% and 3.61% more thanks to these developments. There is a risk that between 27,000 and 212,000 average direct, indirect and induced jobs can be created depending on the number of discoveries in progress. Regarding exports, Ecolatina claims that in the case of a single discovery it would result in total exports of $ 44,708 million.

Pablo Pererira, UBA graduate electronics engineer, has been responsible for several years of NTT, the high tech of the Japanese capitals that covers the wide range of services. One of his most challenging projects was the digital medical record implemented by the province of Córdoba, as well as changes in technology platforms in oil companies such as YPF, PAE and Toyota. When Pereira is asked what his Japanese shareholders are saying about Argentina’s volatility, he blurts out: “What blurs the picture is inflation.”

In what is an unprecedented project and with the aim of accessing higher education, on 14 July a university center was inaugurated in the department of Lavalle, Mendoza. At the initiative of the 21st Century University, through an alliance with the SiMas Foundation, the University Support Center for the original community of Huarpe Paula Guaquinchay was created. The space will be a digital point, equipped with technical tools and connectivity so that its members can follow the training path towards the university degree and become professionals with full scholarships. The Lavalle department is located in the northeast of Mendoza. It has arid lands known as “dry land” where the original communities of Los Huarpes live. This center joins that of the city of Abra Pampa, in Puna Jujeña, inaugurated 10 years ago to accompany the Warmi Huasi Yachana community.

Rizobacter, of the Bioceres group, invested $ 5 million in an organic plant for agriculture located in the headquarters of the Pergamino company. The company expects further expansion due to increased demand for organic products, which is growing at an annual rate of 15%. The installed capacity of the biological plant, from which more than 40 countries come, is 90,000 liters and with the expansion it is hoped to add 30,000 liters, which would allow the production of up to 35 million doses per year. The other novelty is the plant which is under construction in Londrina, Brazil, with an outlay of 10 million dollars. It will be used for the production of premium agricultural aids, differentiated technologies that seek to add value to agricultural activity by improving production and environmental parameters. In Brazil, they expect to reach $ 40 million in turnover in 2023.