The Chinese company Tsingshan Holdings, a private firm based in the stainless steel and nickel industry, announced that it will double the planned investment in the province of Salta through the Centenario Ratones project, with the aim of developing and exporting lithium for 4 billion dollars annually from the beginning of 2024.
Tsingshan Holdings owns a 49.9% stake in the Centenario Ratones project in Salta, Argentina, where it decided to double its investment to go from production forecasts at the beginning of 2024 of 24,000 tons per year to almost 50,000 tons, in a decision that it took in response to the growing demand for minerals used in electric vehicle batteries, and which would imply exports of mineral resources for Argentina for 4 billion dollars a year. The company was founded in 1988 by Xiang Guangda in Wenzhou City, ranked 279th in the Fortune Global 500 in 2021, and is the world’s largest nickel producer.
The announcement was confirmed by the Argentine ambassador to China, Sabino Vaca Narvaja, who highlighted: “Argentina shares the Andes Mountains with Chile, so it can be assumed that both countries have almost similar mineral resources. However, Chile currently exports 20 times more minerals than Argentina. Chile exported USD 65,000 million in 2021, against USD 3,300 million from Argentina”, and remarked: “This is a concrete guideline of the growth potential that mining has in the country.”
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The Argentine embassy in China also highlighted the development of policies for the imposition of the sector carried out by the national government. “The mining industry will play a decisive role in economic development and will offer opportunities for the most lethargic regions of Argentina, which is why it is important to cooperate strongly with China in this sector,” said Vaca Narvaja, who in this sense referred to the plan of electromobility promoted by Argentina to grant “benefits to investments in productive projects that use lithium as raw material”.
Tsingshan Holdings owns a 49.9% stake in the Centenario Ratones project in Salta, Argentina, where it decided to double its investment to go from production forecasts to the beginning of 2024
“We have several projects under construction for the production of lithium carbonate in our country led by Chinese companies. In fact, of the nine mining projects of Chinese capital in our country, six correspond to projects for the extraction of this mineral”, highlighted the Argentine ambassador to China, referring to the Tres Quebradas and Laguna Verde ventures, in Catamarca; Cauchari and La Providencia in Jujuy; and Mariana and Centenario Ratones, in Salta.
