Arcadium Lithium to Reduce Argentine Investment

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Written by Amir Richani for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Arcadium Lithium (NYSE:ALTM) (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) announced that it will reduce investments in Argentine projects, delaying development.

Paul Graves, chief executive officer of Arcadium, said on Monday during a quarterly call that the lithium miner will slow investments, impacting its Fenix project in Argentina. According to Graves, Arcadium expects to deploy between US$225 million and US$325 million in Argentina in 2024, lower than the projected amount and delaying its mining developments in the country.

Arcadium is a new mining company that originated from a merger between Livent and Allkem, and it is one of the enterprises producing the critical mineral in Argentina.

The lithium miner operates the Fenix project at the Salar del Hombre Muerto mine, where it has finished the Phase 1A expansion with a capacity of 10,000 metric tons per year. The company expects to ramp up production in Phase 1A to 7,500 metric tons this year.

Yet, the Phase 1B expansion, which will add another 10,000 metric tons of capacity, will face delays due to lower investments. This asset was expected to be finalized by the second half of the year, though this could vary by six to nine months, according to the company's presentation.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Metals & Minerals Project Database can click here for more details on the project.

Despite the announcement, Argentina continues to attract international interest to its lithium industry as it projects higher production volumes. Last week, the United States Secretary, Antony Blinken, visited Argentina to meet Argentine President Javier Milei and other officials such as Foreign Minister Diana Mondino. Among the topics discussed was the importance of Argentina's lithium and other critical minerals for the transition to renewable energies.

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