U.A.E. company to invest $550M into Rio Grande Sur project in Argentina
4 years
U.A.E. engineering company United Mining Projects Corporation (“UMPC”) has announced plans to invest $550M into the development of the Rio Grande Sur brine project in the Catamarca province, Argentina.
The announcement follows two years of negotiations between the Catamarca government.
The investment will take place over 4 years to 2028, presumably when production is set to commence.
Opinião da Adamas:
The salars of Argentina rank among the world’s accessible known reserves that are “open for business” owing to the countries geopolitically neutrality. In this context, it is not unsurprising to see investment from industry outsiders.
UMPC’s rather obscure investment supports the notion that lithium is abundant and is simply capital constrained. This may be true for untapped high-grade brine or hard rock reserves amenable to conventional processing methods, but in the context of low-grade continental brines (like at Rio Grande), there are steep learning curves to navigate in the art of direct lithium extraction.
Resource delineation and process piloting can alone take several years and hundreds of millions of dollars in demonstration costs, as evidenced by Eramet/Tsingshan’s Centenario or Rio Tinto’s Rincon projects.
By our estimates, using regional average DLE capital intensities, the $550M investment represents in a best-case scenario a 14 kt LCE plant, processing ~350 mg/L Li grade brines.
[Extrato da edição de maio da EV Battery Lithium Monthly .]
Chris Williams, analista da Adamas Intelligence
Chris é analista na Adamas Intelligence, especializando-se no setor global do lítio. Ele investiga e analisa a cadeia de valor do lítio para identificar oportunidades concretas para os clientes.
Chris tem 11 anos de experiência na otimização de operações nos setores da mineração e do petróleo e gás, gerando valor através da análise de dados. Concluiu a licenciatura e o mestrado em Engenharia na Universidade de Queensland, com especialização em Engenharia Mecânica, e está atualmente a concluir um mestrado em Administração de Empresas na Universidade da Colúmbia Britânica.
