NEWS

A pilot plant that the Chinese giant Tibet Summit will set up in the Salar de Diablillos is coming.

The Chinese giant Tibet Summit kicked off an investment that will reach more than US$2.1 billion in two Argentine lithium projects.



A ship with the necessary components to set up the production plant in one of the projects, located in the Salar de Diablillos, is on its way. Construction will begin this month and production is expected to begin next year.



After launch, the two Tibet Summit projects will form an annual production equivalent to 150,000 tons of lithium carbonate, which - the company assures - makes them the most efficient, largest and most advanced salt flat development projects in the world.



According to what David Ding, general consultant for Tibet Summit Argentina, explained to El Cronista, they estimate that the value of the production as a whole "will be US$ 6,000 million a year, will contribute US$ 1,500 million in taxes, and will stimulate employment in the order of 10,000 jobs."



The project in Salar de Diablillos is managed by Potasio y Litio de Argentina (PLASA), a firm that controls Tibet Summit after acquiring the Canadian Lithium X Energy in 2018 for an amount close to US$ 200 million, according to what was reported at the time.



Now, with an investment of more than US$ 700 million, this project located 145 kilometers from the city of Salta and 4,000 meters above sea level, will apply the most advanced technology in the world. It is the "membrane adsorption" process that allows an extraction 80% higher than the traditional one in a minimum time and with greater care for the environment, the company said. Ding explained that the investment in infrastructure construction is expected to be completed in 2022, in order to start the production stage at the beginning of 2023. This week, the ship carrying the pilot plant that will be assembled in Diablillos will disembark at the Port of Angamos, near Antofagasta in Chile, transported by more than 140 trucks to Salta.



"Calculating at current lithium prices, once put into production, the project will generate an annual industrial production value of US$ 2,000 million, a fiscal contribution of US$ 500 million, will directly create between 500 and 800 jobs and 2,000 indirect jobs," added the executive. Among the data handled by the firm, it indicates that the salt flat contains 2.05 million tons of LCE (lithium carbonate). The specific yield of each layer varies between 9% and 29%, with an average of 15%. It is one of the salt flats with the best specific performance in Argentina and its magnesium-lithium ratio reaches 3.78.

In parallel, the company is working on another project - through another subsidiary, Tortuga de Oro (TOSA) - in the Salar de Arizaro, where exploration is expected to be completed this year. Once the development feasibility study report is formulated, an investment of US$ 1.4 billion will be made in 2023 to build a production scale equivalent to 100,000 tons of lithium carbonate. This project will generate an annual industrial production value of US$ 4 billion, a fiscal contribution of US$ 1 billion, and will create between 1,000 and 2,000 direct jobs and 4,000 indirect jobs after the project reaches production. China Tibet Summit Resources is a company listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and has extensive experience in the operation of cross-border mining projects.



It is also one of a large group of Chinese companies that in recent years have announced major investments to invest in the Argentine part of the globally-watched Lithium Triangle, where there are more than 25 projects in different stages of progress.