The Argentine provinces with lithium resources agreed with the national government to generate mechanisms for companies to allocate a percentage of their production to industrialization and the generation of added value in the country.
The decision resulted from a meeting of the “Lithium Round Table” that includes the authorities of the northern districts of Jujuy, Salta, and Catamarca together with representatives of the national Executive and that took place in the House of Catamarca in the city of Buenos Aires (Federal Capital).
“We have decided to implement a debate and negotiations with the companies and to implement measures so that as much lithium as possible remains in the Argentine Republic for its industrialization for value-added projects,” expressed the governor of Jujuy, Gerardo Morales.
“We have also raised our concern since there is an exorbitant increase in lithium prices at the international level, which does not match the income that the lithium-producing provinces are receiving, an issue that we are going to discuss with the companies of Jujuy, Salta and Catamarca”, added the official.
The measure “will make it possible to make the country’s export potential compatible with the availability of lithium to promote a local industrialization process that will boost the development of the lithium provinces”.
The Bureau said in a press release that “the lithium economy represents an opportunity to strengthen industrialization and advance in territorial development, avoiding the risks of a reprimarization of the Argentine economy, which would deepen the existing asymmetries within the country”.
The meeting was attended by the governors of Salta, Gustavo Sáenz; of Jujuy, Gerardo Morales; and of Catamarca, Raúl Jalil; the Secretary of Strategic Affairs of Argentina, Mercedes Marcó del Pont; the Secretary of Mining, Fernanda Ávila; and the Secretary of Provinces of the Interior, Bruno Ruggeri, also participated in the meeting.