Eramet Buys Tshingan's Stake in the Centenario Lithium Mine in Argentina

---

Written by Amir Richani for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Eramet (Paris, France) has bought out Tsingshan's (Wenzhou, China) shares in Eramine Sudamerica, owner of the Centenario mine in Argentina.

Eramet bought Tsingshan's 49.9% interest in their subsidiary Eramine Sudamerica, granting the French company full ownership of the Centenario project. The transaction closed this week for US$699 million using Eramet's available liquidity.

The Centenario lithium mine in Argentina, located in the Centenario Ratones salt flat in the Salta province in Argentina, started operating its pilot plant in 2019. On July 3 this year, however, the mine inaugurated its new direct lithium extraction (DLE) plant, which has a capacity of 24,000 tons per year.

According to Eramet, the lithium plant is finishing the commissioning stages and should start production in the next few weeks.

Following its full ownership of the asset, the company expects to increase the plant's production to 75,000 tons per year. The mine has a total of 15 million tons of measured, indicated and inferred reserves, with a concentration of 407 milligrams per liter of lithium in the brine.

The transaction is backed by Eramet's market expectations for the lithium market. The company forecasts demand to almost double every five years for the next 20 years. This analysis comes despite the recent slump in lithium prices and the slower-than-expected market for electric vehicles.

"This strategic move enables us to unlock the full potential of our Centenario world-class deposit and comes also at the right time in the context of cyclically low market prices for lithium. Taking advantage of the strong liquidity of the Group to execute the transaction, we will soon become the first Western company using a next-generation DLE technology to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate at industrial scale, confirming our technological and sustainable leadership across the entire lithium value chain," said Christel Boris, chief executive officer of Eramet.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Metals & Minerals Project and Plant databases can click here for related project reports and here for a plant profile.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).