President Macri and governor Morales launched a plan to quintuplicate the province’s production. In addition, they announced the creation of a batteries’ factory.

President Mauricio Macri and Gerardo Morales, governor of Jujuy, announced an ambitious investment plan to “quintuplicate the production of lithium carbonate” in the province.

The goal from the current 17,000 tons per year of this element, which is key to produce electronic devices and electric cars’ batteries, to 90,000 tons per year, according to the official statement.

“Almost USD 1,000 million will be invested in the province, out of which USD 800 million will be destined to the Cauchari salt mina, a project run by the company Exar, with the participation of capital from Jujuy; and USD 160 million will be delivered to the Olaroz deposit, where the production facilities of Sales de Jujuy is located”, said Morales.

Once these projects het started, “1,300 jobs will be created during the periods with greater levels of activity”, said Morales.

In addition, during the exploitation years, over 500 direct and permanent employment opportunities will created, due to the development of local suppliers.

The first project, developed by the American semi-conductors firm Exar, Lithium Americas and SQM, aims at producing 50,000 tons of lithium per year.

Meanwhile, the mining company Sales de Jujuy (a joint venture between the Australian firm Orocobre and the Japanese Toyota), seeks to double its current production capacity by reaching the 35,000 tons per year.

Furthermore, a lithium batteries’ factory will be established in Jujuy, due to a convention between Jemse and the Italian group Seri. The industrial facility will be built in Perico, and, according to the provincial minister of production, Adud Robles, “it will start by assembling batteries so that in the near future it may produce lithium cells locally”.

The investment for this plant will be of USD 2.5 million, and it is expected to start operating by the first semester of 2018, directly employing 55 workers.

If the second phase is reached (production of lithium cells), it would be the first plant of this kind in Argentina, which nowadays is a net exporter of unprocessed lithium. For this phase, the necessary investment would be of USD 50 million. Lithium is a light mineral used in batteries of cellphones, laptops, ceramic materials, glass, and psychotropic drugs, and, most importantly, the storage of renewable energies and electric cars batteries.

Argentinian northwestern provinces, together with Chile and Bolivia, are part of the “lithium triangle”, where 80% of the global reserves of this strategic resource are located.