The Techint Group, a privately owned conglomerate, recently presented a plan to the governor of Argentina’s Salta province for a major lithium project.
Through its subsidiary Tecpetrol, the company plans to extract the battery metal from the region’s Salar de Tolillar salt flat. The operation should produce about 30,000 tons of lithium carbonate per year, the country’s publication iProfessional reported.
Tecpetrol will also establish a processing plant for lithium generated by the project. The proposed site comprises a concession spanning 27,500 hectares. The land tenement came into Techint’s possession last fall when it took a 54 per cent stake in Alpha Lithium Corporation (OTC: APHLF).
Through that major stock acquisition, Tecpetrol acquired lithium assets spanning 38,000 hectares in Salta’s Tolillar, Hombre Muerto and Arizaro salts flats. The Tolillar project is in the advanced stage with over 20 wells drilled while the other two are in the exploratory stages.
Salta Governor Gustavo Sáenz meets with Techint representatives at the state’s Government House. Photo credit: Minería y Desarrollo
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Lithium exports account for 20 per cent of Argentina’s foreign mineral sales
That is according to the nation’s Ministry of Mining, which says that lithium exports increased by nearly 17 per cent year-over-year for the month of December, 2023.
“In the case of lithium, a total of US$85 million was exported in December, marking the historical record of exports for the month analyzed,” the ministry said.
The Techint group, founded in Italy in 1945, is headquartered in Buenos Aires. It is involved with steelmaking, construction, oil and gas exploration, mining and designing industrial machinery, among other things. The conglomerate is split into six different companies.
Argentina’s lithium brine resources are developing at an accelerated rate by a variety of major and junior companies. Early-stage developers active in the country include Argentina Lithium & Energy Corp. (TSX-V: LIT) (OTCQX: LILIF), Lithium South Development Corporation (TSXV: LIS) (OTCQB: LISMF) (Frankfurt: OGPQ) and NOA Lithium Brines Inc. (TSX-V: NOAL) (FSE: N7N).
NOA just discovered 530 metres of lithium brine resources in the Salta province.
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