{"id":1141362,"date":"2019-10-01T05:54:03","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T10:54:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1003282"},"modified":"2019-10-01T05:54:03","modified_gmt":"2019-10-01T10:54:03","slug":"lithium-americas-ganfeng-to-build-larger-scale-mine-in-argentina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1141362","title":{"rendered":"Lithium Americas, Ganfeng to build larger-scale mine in Argentina"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Canada\u2019s Lithium Americas (TSX: LAC) and venture partner Ganfeng Lithium are going ahead with a l<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lithiumamericas.com\/news\/lithium-americas-announces-40000-tpa-feasibility-study-for-the-cauchar-olaroz-lithium-project-\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"arger-scale operation at their Cauchar\u00ed-Olaroz project (opens in a new tab)\">arger-scale operation at their Cauchar\u00ed-Olaroz project<\/a> in Argentina after a definitive feasibility study showed the project&#8217;s greater capacity.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The expanded project is now expected to produce 40,000 tonnes of battery-quality lithium carbonate annually for 40 years, up from the previously envisaged 25,000 tpa operation.<\/p>\n<p>Capital cost increased by 33% to $565 million from $425 million, but it supports a 60% increase in lithium production capacity, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lithiumamericas.com\/news\/lithium-americas-announces-40000-tpa-feasibility-study-for-the-cauchar-olaroz-lithium-project-\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">the partners noted<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Cauchar\u00ed-Olaroz is located in northern Argentina, bordering Chile and Bolivia, a region of South America known as the Lithium Triangle.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Cauchar\u00ed-Olaroz lithium project is now expected to produce 40,000 tonnes of battery-quality lithium carbonate annually for 40 years,<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Production at the project is<br \/>\nexpected to start by early 2021. Cauchar\u00ed-Olaroz is technically overseen by<br \/>\nMinera Exar S.A., a 50-50 joint venture between Lithium Americas and Ganfeng,<br \/>\nbased in southeastern China\u2019s Jiangxi province. The company is one of the<br \/>\nworld\u2019s top producers of the white metal, a key ingredient in rechargeable<br \/>\nbatteries, and a supplier of electric carmaker Tesla.<\/p>\n<p>News of a larger lithium mine than originally anticipated comes amidst <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/lithium-prices-to-remain-low-as-hype-has-met-reality-cru\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">oversupply worries<\/a> and cuts to subsidies for electric vehicles makers by China, the world\u2019s largest consumer of the metal. Both factors have heavily weighed on prices, triggering reactions among global producers.<\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s Tianqi, one of the world\u2019s main<br \/>\nlithium miners, shelved plans last month to complete a A$300 million ($205m)<br \/>\nsecond phase expansion at the world\u2019s largest lithium hydroxide plant.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement came on the heels<br \/>\nof a decision in August with partner Albemarle Corp (NYSE: ALB), the world\u2019s<br \/>\nNo. 1 lithium miner, to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/albemarle-puts-the-break-on-growing-plans-amid-lithium-market-weakness\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">postpone a planned expansion of their Greenbushe<\/a>s lithium<br \/>\nproject.<\/p>\n<p>US-based Albemarle had also revised a&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/mineral-resources-signs-1-15b-lithium-deal-albemarle\/\" >deal to buy into Australia\u2019s Mineral Resources<\/a>\u2019 (ASX: MIN) Wodgina lithium mine and delayed building 75,000 tonnes of processing capacity at Kemerton, also in Australia.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Weak market<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Prices for lithium carbonate, the<br \/>\nmost common type used in EV batteries, doubled over 2016 and 2017. Since then,<br \/>\nthey have fallen by more than 40% over the past year, to around $9.25 per kg at<br \/>\nthe end of July.<\/p>\n<p>Besides Cauchar\u00ed-Olaroz, Argentina<br \/>\nhas another two lithium projects consolidated and in production \u2014&nbsp;NRG<br \/>\nMetals\u2019 Hombre Muerto in Catamarca province and&nbsp;Orocobre\u2019s Olaroz&nbsp;in<br \/>\nJujuy. A further 23 exploration projects are advancing to production.<\/p>\n<p>According to a&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/publications.iadb.org\/es\/litio-en-la-argentina-oportunidades-y-desafios-para-el-desarrollo-de-la-cadena-de-valor\" >report by the Inter-American Development Bank<\/a>&nbsp;(IDB), the country has 13% of the global lithium reserves, while annual production currently stands at 30,400 tonnes.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/store.miningintelligence.com\/posters\/global-battery-minerals-map\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"DOWNLOAD FREE BATTERY METALS MAP (opens in a new tab)\">DOWNLOAD FREE BATTERY METALS MAP<\/a><\/p>\n<p><cite>Map of major producing mines and mine development projects of minerals used in Lithium Ion Batteries. Commodities include Lithium, Graphite and Cobalt. Map includes locations of 240+ producing mines, 45 development projects, 110+ projects in economic assessment, and 40 suspended mines.<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The South American nation is the<br \/>\nworld\u2019s third biggest lithium producer, hoisting 25% of the resources in the lithium<br \/>\ntriangle.<\/p>\n<p>Argentina needs foreign investment<br \/>\nand jobs that properly run and managed mining projects could bring in. The<br \/>\ncountry is facing an economic crisis,&nbsp;with the central bank recently<br \/>\nhiking interest rates to ease inflation and save the Argentinean peso, the worst-performing<br \/>\ncurrency in emerging markets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Cauchar&iacute;-Olaroz lithium project is now expected to produce 40,000 tonnes of battery-quality lithium carbonate annually for 40 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1016,369,4,2640],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141362"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1141362"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1141434,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141362\/revisions\/1141434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1141362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1141362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1141362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}