World Bank urges Argentina to boost lithium infrastructure

Argentina’s expectation to be the world’s third-biggest lithium producer requires perfect logistics across the value chain with work that must also benefit other industrial sectors, according to a World Bank study.

Overall, 22 lithium projects are in advanced development stages and investments have been announced for 37 in the northwestern provinces of Catamarca, Salta and Jujuy. The projects are expected to help achieve national production of 260,000t of lithium carbonate in 2026, compared to 37,500t in 2022.

Key to facilitate this growth are roads and rail lines, the most used cargo transport modes in northwest Argentina. The most common route to transport lithium inputs connects the port of Campana in Buenos Aires province and Perico city in Jujuy, with links to national routes 34 and 66.

Route 9 to Purmamarca is the most used one for lithium-derived products, the study said

However, infrastructure is lacking in the area, and existing roads are often in poor condition, leading to logistics costs for the projects that are up to 50% higher than in other areas, according to the study.

Mining companies chamber CAEM and infrastructure think-tank CPI presented proposals to improve the situation, as in its current state it “translates into loss of competitiveness compared to other mining countries,” a statement said.

With rising lithium production, more inputs are needed.

“About 2t [of inputs], 3t of lime, caustic soda, hydrochloric acid and various other elements will be required to produce 1t of lithium carbonate. Rethinking [the northwest], lithium and copper are fundamental pillars for Argentina to insert itself into the world and generate the foreign exchange it needs to strengthen and diversify its productive matrix,” CAEM president Roberto Cacciola told BNamericas.

“The increase in the demand for minerals generates a positive effect in the northwest region, promoting more local suppliers, and the advances in infrastructure that are mobilized by mining may benefit the expansion of the regional productive matrix,” he said. 

The World Bank proposes creating economic corridors to ensure that expansion is not only concentrated in large cities. The objective is to share the road, rail, energy and logistics infrastructure needs of lithium with other industries such as copper or agricultural-livestock activity.

Improvements and maintenance of the main routes should be priorities to prepare for the greater mining loads.

Likewise, it is proposed to modernize the C14 branch of the Belgrano rail backbone, so that all stations are operational with annual load capacity of at least 400,000t.

Financing would be achieved through coordination among the State, provincial governments and companies, although the World Bank could also help, the study said.

Projects that will start production through 2026 include Mariana, Salar de Olaroz Expansion Phase 2, Sal de Oro, Sal de Vida, Tres Quebradas and Cauchari-Olaroz.

But the study urged that “it is necessary to project road and rail flows towards 2045.”