On May 30th, Argentine time, the Ganfeng Mariana Salt Lake project held a commencement ceremony. Leaders such as Gustavo S á enz, Governor of Salta Province, Wang Xiaoshen, Vice Chairman of Ganfeng Lithium Industry, and Luo Xiaofeng, General Manager of Litio Minera Argentina S.A. attended the event. Chinese Ambassador to Argentina, Zou Xiaoli, congratulated the project on its start via video.
The Mariana project is located in Salta Province, Argentina, with a total lithium resource of approximately 8.12 million tons of LCE. Ganfeng holds 100% equity in the project. At the ceremony, Ganfeng announced that it will invest approximately 600 million US dollars to build a lithium chloride production base with an annual output of 20000 tons. The project will create a total of over 1700 local employment positions.
The Mariana Lithium Salt Lake project will assist in the upgrading of local industries and employment growth, and promote cooperation between the two countries in the fields of new energy and green development to new heights, 'said Ambassador Zou Xiaoli.
Continuously improving the supply of raw materials and paving the way for energy transformation
Due to the increasingly severe global climate issues, the energy transition strategy from fossil to renewable energy has been recognized by the vast majority of countries worldwide. At present, the transformation direction with commercial capabilities mainly focuses on replacing internal combustion engines with power batteries and replacing fossil fuels with wind and solar power. Among them, whether it is power batteries or clean energy power generation, lithium batteries are the main energy storage equipment.
As a core element in lithium batteries, the importance of lithium is self-evident. According to the prediction of Minmetals Securities, the global demand for lithium resources will reach 1.6 million tons of LCE by 2025. How to ensure the stable supply of raw materials is a common challenge faced by the entire industry.
In recent years, Ganfeng has continued its upstream layout and invested in lithium resources covering salt lakes, spodumene, clay and other types in Argentina, Mexico, Mali, China and other places. The aim is to use its own years of experience to provide acceleration for the development and construction of local projects, so that resources can become products in a shorter time and become a new driving force for energy transformation.
The Mariana project, which held the commencement ceremony this time, has officially received an environmental impact report approval from the Salta Provincial Government of Argentina in 2021 and started initial construction. Previously, Ganfeng conducted multiple surveys on the project, controlling and inferring that the amount of lithium resources increased from 1.87 million tons of LCE in 2017 to 5.25 million tons of LCE in 2019. In 2021, controlling and inferring that the amount of lithium resources reached 6.85 million tons of LCE, and the total amount of lithium resources reached 8.12 million tons of LCE.
Ganfeng's other salt lake project in Argentina, Cauchari, is also planned to be put into operation this year, with the first phase forming an annual production capacity of 40000 tons of lithium carbonate.
Seeking a balance between environment, economy, and ecology to create a global level green lithium project
We hope to create a global model of sustainable development, 'Salta Governor S á enz said at the ceremony.' The Mariana project is a milestone for Salta and Argentina's mining industry, and Ganfeng has made significant contributions in technology and sustainable development.
To achieve the sustainability of the Mariana project, Ganfeng introduced many measures at the beginning of the project design.
In terms of energy conservation and emission reduction, Ganfeng is building a 120MW photovoltaic power station around the project to achieve the full use of renewable energy, which can reduce 157000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. On the other hand, Ganfeng fully utilizes the plateau terrain of the Mariana project to extract resources through sunlight evaporation; During this period, water is recycled.
In terms of ecological protection, Ganfeng has established a natural ecological protection zone around the salt lake, imposing strict spatial and temporal restrictions on human activity areas, and protecting the breeding and rest of Andean flamingos and other animals. And regularly conduct environmental monitoring of the surrounding areas of the project, sampling and analyzing vegetation, animal communities, lakes, air quality, noise, soil, and water quality, in order to always maintain a good state of the environment.
In terms of community economy, Ganfeng will vigorously develop local infrastructure construction and prioritize hiring local residents for positions; Provide employment oriented training for local residents, establish a talent cultivation system with local schools, and form a continuous talent output.
Ganfeng has always been seeking the optimal balance between environment, economy, and ecology, while maintaining development to ensure harmonious coexistence between humans and the Earth's ecology. Mariana is a microcosm of the sustainable construction and operation of Ganfeng's overseas projects. In the future, Ganfeng will continue to practice social responsibility and sustainable development concepts, introduce more advanced concepts and related technologies, and contribute more to the global carbon reduction cause.