Lithium: a Korean company advances with an investment of 4,000 million dollars

Directors of the Korean steel producer Posco (Pohang Iron and Steel Company), owner in Argentina of the integrated lithium project called “Golden salt” in the provinces of Salta and Catamarca, he met with Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero on Thursday to ratify the intention of invest $ 4,000 million in what will be the first lithium hydroxide company in the country.

This initiative was announced last March and construction began in the first phase of the project, with an approximate investment of $ 830 million.

In the meeting with the Farnesina “the environmental impact studies that are being carried out to increase production capacity were analyzed from 25,000 tons of lithium carbonate to 100,000 “, commented an official source.

This level of production will be reached by 2026 and, based on this calculation, the estimated total investment of 4,000 million US dollars is born. Additionally, Asian filmmakers confirmed that starting the project could generate some 1,900 jobsbetween direct and indirect.

“We spoke with Posco about the next steps in its investment in lithium and the opportunities to develop new value-added chains that include Argentina,” commented Cafiero, at the end of the meeting.

And he added that “the lithium industry has enormous potential for Argentina and, above all, for the provinces that produce the mineral (Catamarca, Jujuy and Salta). Argentina is the country with the largest amount of resources with potential economic value within the so-called ‘Lithium Triangle’, which also includes the salt pans of Chile and Bolivia ”.

During the meeting, Cafiero was accompanied by the Secretary for International Economic Relations, Cecilia Todesca Bocco and by the delegation made up of the representative director and president, Tak Jeong; the president of Posco Argentina, Kim Kwangbok; and its vice president, Chung SungKook.

Argentina is the fourth largest lithium producer in the world, behind Australia, Chile and China. The provinces of Catamarca, Jujuy and Salta constitute the second world reserve of this mineral.

The product is in great demand in the automotive (for electric car batteries) and electronics industries. For this reason, in the first half of the year, Argentina’s lithium exports increased by 171% compared to the first half of 2021.

Posco is a company founded in 1968 in the city of Pohang, South Korea, and is currently among the five largest in that country and among the four largest steel companies in the world.

It is present in 53 countries and 63,000 employees worldwide, with interests in various business lines and sectors such as steel, automotive, construction, renewable and non-renewable energy, infrastructure, agriculture, mining and information technology.

The meeting with Korean businessmen takes place in a context of greater flexibility of the Argentine government towards mining. A few days ago it was announced a relief regime in terms of access to foreign currency, so that companies can pay dividends to their parent companies. This will be based on different investment criteria, local purchase and other requirements analyzed by the Ministry of Mining.

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