BUENOS AIRES (AFP) – Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto on Thursday announced an investment of USD2.5 billion to ramp up its Argentine production of lithium carbonate, a key ingredient in electric car batteries.
“Rio Tinto has approved USD2.5 billion to expand the Rincon project in Argentina, the company’s first commercial scale lithium operation,” it said in a statement.
The mine in the northwestern Salta province is located in the so-called Lithium Triangle straddling Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, which is home to 60 per cent of the world’s lithium reserves, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
Rio Tinto said its investment in Rincon would take its production capacity from 3,000 tonnes to 60,000 tonnes per year by 2028.
Argentina was the world’s fourth-biggest producer of lithium in 2023, after Australia, Chile and China, according to the USGS. In July, the French mining group Eramet and its Chinese partner Tsingshan opened a lithium production plant in Salta.
Eramet chief executive Christel Bories said the plant would meet 15 per cent of Europe’s lithium needs. Bolivia is also trying to cash in on surging demand for the silvery-white metal, which is also used to make rechargeable batteries for smartphones, laptops and other devices besides e-vehicles.
This year Bolivia signed a deal with Russia’s Uranium One company to build a lithium extraction plant.
It also signed a contract with a subsidiary of the Chinese company CATL – the world’s largest battery manufacturer – to set up two lithium extraction sites with a joint capacity of 35,000 tonnes a year.
