News of mining

Exit rigging, enter RIGI

08-03-2025 06:00 Argentina has, many times in its recent past, seen long-term sustainability ruined by short-term objectives.

by Marcelo J. García

GLOBAL LITHIUM TRADE

Stubbornly resilient lithium supply remains hurdle to recovery

08-01-2025 10:06 Lithium prices have plunged since late 2022 on oversupply and slower-than-expected growth in electric vehicle demand. Analysts see a surplus this year, although they forecast it will be smaller than in 2024.

lithium mining

Rio Tinto to invest US$2.5 billion in lithium production

13-12-2024 13:24 Anglo-Australian mining giant announces US$2.5-billion investment in Rincón project in Salta Province, with chief executive praising Milei’s reforms and RIGI scheme.

Investing in Argentina

Milei touts US$50 billion from investors eyeing 30-year loopholes

02-12-2024 13:04 Argentina has abundant natural resources and legions of well-educated workers. But it struggles to attract investors because its politicians have a habit of changing the rules on a whim.

GAS & ENERGY

Analysing Argentina’s bid to boost Vaca Muerta natural gas exports

30-11-2024 05:18 A look at the challenges facing President Javier Milei’s government as it attempts to consolidate the natural gas exports from the vast Vaca Muerta formation.

Mining in Argentina - Investment

Millennial mining heirs bet the family business on Argentine copper

25-10-2024 11:14 As demand for clean energy surges, family-owned companies, including those led by the next-generation Lundin family heirs, are taking control of critical mineral resources across the Americas and Europe.

Economy & World

Rio Tinto expands lithium bet with biggest deal since 2007

09-10-2024 14:15 Rio Tinto Group has agreed to purchase Arcadium Lithium Plc in an all-cash deal valuing the US-listed miner at US$6.7 billion.

Lithium in Argentina

Economic crisis thwarts bid to go nuclear with lithium bounty

17-09-2024 11:35 Currency woes dog Argentine scientists trying to develop key isotope Lithium-6, which could have nuclear applications; Milei’s spending cuts, privatisation plans are also a factor.

MINING & GAS

YPF eyes sale of lithium unit as focus narrows on shale ramp-up

31-08-2024 17:12 State-run oil company YPF SA is considering a sale of its lithium unit as part of a sweeping divestment strategy to streamline investments into Vaca Muerta shale patch.

Lithium mining

Lithium start-ups bet on high demand in battery-powered future

30-08-2024 11:33 Despite oversupply today, novel lithium extraction techniques will be key to the energy transition even as companies struggle with cost competitiveness.

LATIN AMERICA

Paraguay's abundant hydropower draws crypto miners, legal and not

30-08-2024 11:02 In the Paraguayan city of Hernandarias, a data centre with rows upon rows of supercomputers stands as a testament to a burgeoning crypto-mining sector attracted by the country's abundance of cheap, green electricity.

ECONOMY & FOREIGN POLICY

Argentina, US ink accord for ‘cooperation on critical minerals’

23-08-2024 13:31 Argentina and the United States sign memorandum of understanding to strengthen production of "critical minerals" such as lithium that are essential for the energy transition.

LITHIUM IN LATIN AMERICA

New lithium plant inaugurated in Salta Province

03-07-2024 22:41 French mining group Eramet and its Chinese partner Tsingshan inaugurate new lithium exploitation plant, an investment worth US$870 million.

Lithium in Argentina

Argentina is about to unleash a wave of lithium in a global glut

30-06-2024 09:06 Four new projects will finally begin to churn out lithium in the weeks and months ahead. That will almost double production capacity in Argentina, whose growth potential has long lured the attention of battery makers around the world.

INTERVIEW

Ex-Energy and Mining secretary Flavia Royón: 'RIGI is necessary’

06-06-2024 00:50 Former Energy & Mining secretary in Alberto Fernández and Javier Milei governments says RIGI investment incentive scheme is “necessary to develop LNG, hydrogen and mining projects.”

Lithium in Latin America

Giant lithium partnership created in Chile with Codelo-SQM deal

31-05-2024 18:37 Chile's state-owned copper giant Codelco signed a deal Friday with SQM to nearly double the private mining firm’s current extraction of lithium.

MINING

Mendoza makes a play for copper in Argentina mining revival

31-05-2024 11:50 Mendoza Province is moving to spur exploration of its copper deposits long shunned by prospectors due to restrictions and red tape.

MINING & INDUSTRY

Copper frenzy draws mining giants to Argentina after Milei’s reforms

23-05-2024 00:01 Milei government tries to lure global mining heavyweights; President must convince companies that their projects are safe and lay down rules for doing business.

BUSINESS & INVESTMENT

Power supplier Central Puerto eyes stake in McEwen’s copper project

06-05-2024 14:57 Central Puerto SA, Argentina’s biggest power supplier, is in talks to invest in Canadian miner McEwen Copper Inc’s Los Azules project.

GUEST COLUMN

Advancing US-Argentine energy and minerals cooperation

30-04-2024 16:13 Argentina's energy security and decarbonisation pathway will only be enhanced by deeper collaboration with the United States, write Jeremy M. Martin & Raúl Bertero.

ANALYSING ARGENTINA

Who wants to ‘exploit’ Argentina?

30-03-2024 06:43 The business establishment, here and abroad, are keeping a close eye on whether Milei and his team can deliver on governance – and whether they can do it soon.

by Marcelo J. García

Lithium in Latin America

Chile unveils lithium salt flats it plans to lease to private companies

27-03-2024 14:36 Chile unveiled salt flats that will be opened up to lithium mining as part of a plan to double production of the battery metal over the next decade under a new public-private model.

Archaeology

Roads, farming threaten Ecuador 'lost city' complex

14-02-2024 06:37 The remains of a massive 2,500-year-old network of Ecuadorean cities are being threatened by road and farm encroachment just as its long-held secrets are being revealed.

Bloomberg

Canadian entrepreneur seeks US$100 million for Argentina copper mine

30-01-2024 19:11 Canadian entrepreneur Rob McEwen is in talks to raise about US$100 million for a copper project in Argentina.

MINING & INDUSTRY

Milei looks to cut costs for miners in broader deregulation push

21-12-2023 20:22 President Javier Milei wants to turn Argentina’s lithium and copper rush into an investment bonanza — starting with cutting red-tape.

Bloomberg

Billionaire Paolo Rocca has a Plan B for lithium if alpha bid fails

11-10-2023 08:10 Billionaire Paolo Rocca’s oil drilling unit will enter the lithium business one way or another.

Bloomberg

Argentina seeks to tax lithium boom to avoid region’s resource curse

02-10-2023 11:57 Provincial and federal officials want to tap the profits of lithium companies with an annual tax that would be put toward building infrastructure.

Lithium in Argentina

Lithium boom in Argentina hinges on politics, Zijin unit says

27-09-2023 19:05 Hurdles to lithium development in neighbouring Chile and Bolivia have opened the door for Argentina, says top industry official

Lithium in Latin America

Start-up summit Nanotech eyes US$150 million funding for a new way to mine lithium

07-09-2023 12:46 Summit Nanotech Corp, a Canadian start-up working on a way to hasten extraction of lithium from South American salt flats, plans to raise US$150 million to take the technology to commercial scale.

MINING & INDUSTRY

Mendoza Province narrows search for US$1-billion potash investor

04-09-2023 14:28 Mendoza Province has narrowed its search for a company to revive development of the Rio Colorado potash mine, a decade after Vale SA pulled out of the project.

Lithium demand

Lithium players race for breakthrough to meet electric car demand

30-08-2023 11:50 Dozens of firms aim to prove sceptics wrong as they push ahead with new lithium extraction methods.

MILEI

Milei would unshackle Argentine farming, oil sectors

17-08-2023 14:56 Shock election-race leader Javier Milei would scrap soy taxes; He’d also privatise shale driller YPF and ditch EV battery bid.

Bloomberg

China’s Zijin is in talks with Argentina to turn lithium into battery cathode

11-07-2023 17:46 China’s Zijin Mining Group is in advanced talks to build a plant in Catamarca that will turn some of the nation’s huge lithium reserves into cathodes used to make electric-vehicle batteries.

Lithium sector

Argentina’s growing lithium industry hits export records

17-06-2023 13:50 Argentina's lithium industry hit a record high with exports rising to US$60 million in May, up 17% from the same month a year ago.

MINING

Newmont to invest US$540 million in gold mine, Argentina says

31-05-2023 20:54 Newmont Corp, the world's largest gold producer, plans to invest about US$540 million in its Cerro Negro mine in Argentina.

Lithium in Latin America

Emerging lithium supplier Argentina says it’s close to US deal under IRA

24-05-2023 09:41 Argentina, one of the world’s fastest-growing lithium producers, says it could soon gain access to the US market.

ILLEGAL MINING

Illegal mining booms in Brazilian Amazon 'promised land'

09-05-2023 16:15 Illegal mines, pulling resources from protected lands in the Amazon, make around US$800 per metric ton of copper they sell on the black market, incentivising the risky trade.

Lithium in Latin America

Peru sees lithium mining opportunity in Chile’s statist plan

28-04-2023 11:14 Peru seeking a more active role in trying to lure lithium mining investments in light of Chile’s decision to take state control of all new projects of battery metal.

MINING & INDUSTRY

Theft of US$1 million in gold suspends Argentina mine project

18-04-2023 08:48 Thieves break into the gold room at Patagonia Gold's Cap-Oeste Project in Santa Cruz Province escape with about 500 ounces of gold.

MINING

Lundin weighs strategic partner for copper project in Argentina

29-03-2023 12:07 Lundin Mining Corp is in talks with prospective partners for a copper deposit in Argentina as the industry battles to meet demand for the wiring metal in the shift away from fossil fuels.

MINING & INDUSTRY

Lithium boom delivers job growth to Argentina’s mining industry

28-03-2023 15:09 National industry industry has now recorded 28 consecutive months of job creation growth, with more than 37,000 workers now employed in the sector.