Zijin-Liex, the Argentinian subsidiary of Chinese mining company Zijin, began lithium carbonate production at its Tres Quebradas (3Q) project in Catamarca province on Friday.
The project is a brine-based operation with a 20,000 metric tonnes (t)/yr nameplate capacity of industrial grade lithium carbonate, according to Catamarca's provincial government.
Zijin has been building the site since the first half of 2022 and now joins Rio Tinto's Fenix project as the only active lithium projects in Catamarca. 3Q is the seventh commercially active lithium project in Argentina, according to government data. That makes it the country with the most active operations in Latin America by far. Brazil has three, Chile has two and Bolivia has one.
When all expansion phases are completed, Zijin expects 3Q to reach 40,000-60,000 t/yr of lithium carbonate production. It expects Tres Quebrada's 8.3mn t lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) reserves to last until 2043.
