EXPLOITATION AND INDUSTRY OF LITHIUM

Industry of lithium in Argentina – Marcos Gaston Rízoli and Sebastian Luirette Woods
Considering the opportunities that can provide the development of the industry of lithium in the Republic of Argentina, as they were developed previously by some researchers in this Observatory of Strategic Affairs, here are some proposals related to the areas of impact identified.
- Title of the proposal: Strategic management of lithium
- Objectives: Strengthen the strategic capabilities for the development of the industry of lithium and manage all appropriate measures to ensure that Argentina is an actor and competitive player of weight in the global market of lithium.
- Lines of action:
- Declare the lithium as a strategic resource, along with our neighboring countries of the “Triangle of Lithium south American” (Chile and Bolivia), enabling a regime specific to this resource.
- To ensure the sustainable exploitation of the mineral resources, in compliance with the best environmental standards.
- To maintain the country to the tip of the scientific studies that are being done in the world, in both private and public, in the field of lithium.
- Go for projects of investment-innovation and entrepreneurship, with joint public-private.
- To promote national production, and marketing of lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicles.
- Think in a leadership role of our country in the field of energy transformation towards renewable energy sources.
- Contribute with an active role in the global transition towards an economy based on renewable energies and electromobility.
- Provide assurance of an economic policy foreseeable, macroeconomic stability, investment protection and legal certainty to ensure the necessary long-term investments.
- Offer incentive policies to investments (example: tax deductions).
- Hosting the push into new international markets and integration into the global value chains.
- Count with the cutting-edge technology is most suitable for the exploitation of lithium. The transfer of technology should be a primary goal at the time of signing contracts for exploration and extraction with the developed countries.
- Drafting of a strategic plan for the exploitation of lithium, by setting concrete goals and strategic planning for the national production, which will consolidate the country as an actor competitive.
- Adequacy of the regulation of mining and contemplation of a special regime for the lithium.
- Definition of what role he wants to give to mining in the economic and social development of the country.
- Use this plan as a framework to plan and coordinate projects to improve the production and add value-added.
The need for scientific and technological development applied in the industry of lithium is manifested by the limitations that currently exist in the exploitation of the salt lakes of our country. If the demand is on the rise, the operations for the extraction of the minerals in the salt are slow processes that span of several years between exploration, pilot testing, construction of wells, installation of processing plants, among others, unlike other extraction methods (especially from rocks, which are made in countries such as Australia), whose costs are higher. There is a need to invest and experiment in new technologies to shorten those times and reduce operating costs betting on innovative projects.
In the second place, some countries and, in the case of argentina, Jujuy province have driven initiatives that go beyond the exploitation of the salt to obtain lithium carbonate. They go from a use that is more comprehensive of the salt (to get other minerals and reuse residual water) to more value-added and increased industrialization in the process, including the local production of lithium batteries and the local production of biogas as a feedstock for industrial. These processes also require to align and articulate the interests and actions of companies that operate along the value chain, between them and with the actors in the scientific and technological system, those who generate knowledge and technological developments that can be leveraged by the private sector.
- Title of the proposal: Governance of the lithium
- Objective: Contemplating the responsible governance of resources litíferos focused on the care of social and environmental.
- Lines of action:
- To develop a system of responsible governance of the regions of mining, which give voice to the indigenous populations, other civil societies, the local academia and the private sector.
- Communicate to the community the potential of the mining sector to national development.
The national government and the governments of the provinces litíferas (Jujuy, Salta and Catamarca) should take advantage of the opportunity to generate initiatives with a positive impact on society, reducing the social and environmental risks of the mining activity. It stands out that the resource can have a positive impact on exports, and development of those provinces that tend to be more delayed and even more important for those regions of the salt, in relation to the industry of lithium in itself as well as associated services such as maintenance and logistics that can make a positive impact in the local community. In this way, the industry of lithium can occur as a platform for structural changes in the economies of the above-mentioned provinces with the social legitimacy corresponding.
In the area of governance of the resource and its exploitation, an example to consider is the National Commission of Lithium Chile, which aims to generate public policies to generate better governance of the regions of exploitation. It was created in 2014 and it depends on the Ministry of Mining of the chilean government. It is made by officials and experts from the academic and private-sector working on generating a “strategic vision” for the national policy of lithium, focused on a role for policy, regulatory and supervisory role of the State and in a sustainable management of the salt. These two objectives should be implemented in our country with a corresponding management is transparent and consensus-appropriate.
In regard to the first proposal, to be considered a strategic plan for the development of mining (to be applied to all the mining regime or limited to lithium), should be considered for the formulation of national government agencies and provincial levels, civil society organizations (including indigenous peoples), scientific institutions, colleges and universities, trade unions, businesses and professionals, through a process of open dialogue, wide-ranging and plural to build a shared strategy that provides for all the needs. This process should be accompanied by an adequate dissemination of its benefits and the promotion of mining activities in a sustainable way, you need to devote the proper legitimacy to the activities and avoiding fierce oppositions that can result in acts of violence such as those that occurred in the province of Chubut in December 2021 for political and social sectors opposed to mining.
It is also important to consider an appropriate governance for the environment, pointing to the fragile ecosystem of the salt, in particular by the fact that the extraction of brines can affect the water resources present in the same with risks of environmental consequences are negative. For this you will need environmental legislation accompanied by an adequate supervisory capacity and enforcement of these standards by the authorities of a relevant application. In the field of development of science and technology there are projects focused on improving the efficiency and environmental sustainability, as well as increase the knowledge about these ecosystems.
- Title of the proposal: Joint with the provinces
- ObjectiveManaging a proper articulation between the national State and the producing provinces.
- Lines of action:
- Coordinate the requirements of the provincial and Nation in terms of research, extraction, production, industrialization and commercialization of the lithium.
- To support the adaptation of the provincial regulations in order to promote investment.
In strategic planning, resource litíferos, cannot be set aside by the provincial governments and their interests, because, in the regime federal argentino enshrined in the National Constitution, which granted the ownership of natural resources (including mineral deposits) to the provinces, being who can grant concessions of use. The federal government has a Mining Code and has regulations regarding environmental and investment. The provinces, also have environmental legislation of their own and are managed by the securities and mining permits as “owners” of the salt and “partners” in the appropriation of the income mining. A current space of joint Nation-province is the Federal Council Miner (COFEMIN) that subscribes to all the sector in general. Specifically in the field of lithium, the three argentine provinces producing formed a table interprovincial in October 2021 to coordinate the requirements of provincial and the national government in the field of research, extraction, production, industrialization and commercialization.