In March 2023, the pilot plant of Ganfeng's Argentina PPG salt lake project successfully commenced production with the first batch of 40 kilograms of lithium carbonate. Currently, the plant can produce 100-200 kilograms of lithium carbonate per day, and both the production process and product quality have been verified and confirmed. The production line is scheduled to undergo further process improvements by the end of April, aiming to increase the daily output to around 700 kilograms.
The PPG project consists of two lithium salt lake blocks, Pozuelos and Pastos Grands, with a total resource amounting to approximately 11.06 million tons of lithium carbonate equivalent (currently planning for a new round of resource survey). The project is located in the western part of Salta Province, at the center of multiple salt lake projects, possessing geographical conditions suitable for integrating surrounding salt lake projects into a large-scale mining operation.
Currently, the planned annual production capacity of the PPG project is 50,000 tons of lithium carbonate, with salt field construction scheduled to commence at the end of 2023 and production expected to start in 2026. Due to the excellent salt lake endowment, the project will use solar evaporation to extract lithium and collect it at a central processing locations through pipeline transportation. The first phase of the project is expected to create more than 1,000 job positions locally.
Argentina is becoming one of Ganfeng's important overseas production bases. The PPG project is the fourth lithium salt lake project in Argentina that Ganfeng has invested in and participated in construction and operation, following Cauchari-Olaroz, Mariana, and Incahuasi. Cauchari-Olaroz is set to start production later this year, Mariana has begun construction, and Incahuasi is in the detailed exploration stage, with potential synergies with the PPG project in future development.
