Since its establishment through POSCO Holdings' acquisition of mining rights in 2018, Posco Argentina has developed extensive facilities for lithium production, including a state-of-the-art plant in Güemes, Salta Province, with an annual production capacity of 25,000 tons of lithium hydroxide.
Where will lithium batteries be made in Buenos Aires?
State company Y-TEC, the tech arm of YPF, will open the first lithium battery cell factory in September, in La Plata, the capital of Buenos Aires province. Another plant, five times bigger, will kick off in Santiago del Estero in 2024.
When will Argentina's first lithium plant start production?
Argentina's first National Plant for the Technological Development of Lithium Cells and Batteries will start production in September on the premises of the National University of La Plata (UNLP), Y-TEC (a subsidiary of the state-owned oil company YPF) head Roberto Salvarezza announced Thursday.
Does y-TEC sell lithium in Argentina?
In the case of lithium, Y-TEC signed a contract with American company Livent, which extracts the mineral in Catamarca and, for the first time, sold part of its production in Argentina. According to Salvarezza, for industrialization to grow in scale, part of the production ought to be sold on the local market.
Although it is not manufactured in Argentina, Y-TEC is conducting a project for artificial graphite production, using burnt coking coal from the YPF refinery. They took it to the Spain Carbon Institute to see if they could perform a chemical process on it.
What advantages does Argentina have compared to other countries?
“In Argentina we have some advantages compared with other places. We have car manufacturers and lithium. Chile has lithium, but not an automotive industry, while Brazil has a industry but hasn't exploited its lithium yet. We need to become the country that provides batteries to the region.”
The Y-TEC head was recently in Puerto Madryn at the Argentina company Aluar. “We haven't sign any contracts, but both parties are interested in doing so,” he said. Graphite is another case, as it is a key material for the anode part of a battery.