The governor of Catamarca province, Raúl Jalil, has arrived in China for a visit that will focus on lithium industrialization projects. 

He is accompanied by the Argentine ambassador to China, Sabino Vaca Narvaja, the general secretary of the Federal Investment Council (CFI), Ignacio Lamothe, and the president of YPF Lithium and Y-TEC, Roberto Salvarezza.

The tour, which includes visits and meetings with businesspeople and local authorities, is the continuation of the meeting Jalil and Vaca Narvaja held in the Quinta de Olivos presidential residence in February with President Alberto Fernández and the owner of the Chinese mining company Zijin Mining, Chin Jinghe, who is responsible for the Tres Quebradas project in Fiambalá, Catamarca.

During the meeting, “they discussed new investments to industrialize lithium and the possibility of improving logistics via the San Francisco Pass [connecting Argentina to Chile] to facilitate exports of the product, using the Pacific Ocean deep water ports,” sources from Vaca Narvaja’s Chinese office. 

The delegation plans to visit the Institute of Research on New Energy and New Materials, a gold and copper mine, and Zijin Mining’s lithium branch, as well as the companies Golden Dragon Bus and Fujian Evergreen New Energy Technology.

Also on the agenda are meetings with businesspeople from Fuzhou’s high-tech industrial development zone, and with provincial authorities from Fujian and the municipality of Longyan, where he will sign a memorandum of understanding on cooperation. 

Jalil organized a provincial delegation with a separate agenda to promote tourism in Catamarca, consisting of mayors, provincial deputies, businesspeople, and provincial ministers.

China is one of the countries that assigns the greatest exploration budget for mining projects in Argentina, via companies such as Shandong Gold, Tibet Summit, Ganfeng Lithium, and Zijin Mining.

Six of the nine initiatives in process involve lithium: Tres Quebradas and Laguna Verde, in Catamarca; Cauchari and La Providencia in Jujuy; and Mariana and Centenario Ratones, in Salta. 

The embassy in China added that they are analyzing promoting the expansion of the investments in the six projects currently under way, which could mean exports of over US$6 billion by the end of this year.

The initiatives coincide with the mining mission of the Productive Argentina 2030 plan, for productive, industrial and technological development, presented this week by the Economy Ministry’s Secretariat of Industry and Productive Development, as well as the initiatives of the lithium round table, which is formed of provincial governments where there is mining activity.

-Télam