NOA · THE SUPPLIER TRACK
What the projects in Salta are going to buy
USD229million per year · sum of the TAMs of 9 opportunities · they overlap — the method of each one is in its own page ↓
You do not have to be here to sell to these projects. If you sell from another province or from abroad, this page works the same for you — what demand each project opens, who is already covering it and where the gap is.
Opportunities sized
see ↓9
each with its USD TAM, its gap and its competitive map
Ecosystem companies
see ↓8
operators that buy and suppliers already in
Opportunities · where you come in · 9 satellite markets
The entry point to the boom: satellite-service opportunities quantified in USD, with their competitive map, the gap to enter and how demand evolves.
What this menu covers and what it leaves out
What this menu covers, said head-on: the quantified niches are the services economy that sells to the Salta puna — the lithium salars of Los Andes and the hard rock of Diablillos — which is where there is published computation, a legal clock running and derivable prices. Now: demand is up there, and the base you come in from is not always. The two salar departments are tiny — Los Andes 7,182 inhabitants and La Poma 1,789, against 627,704 in the capital (2022 Census, INDEC final results) — so the boom-town pattern is not repeated here. Counting the suppliers already identified across the niches, the split is nearly even but it divides by type of business, not down the middle: in the Salta city–General Güemes corridor sit the laboratory, metrology, drilling, chemicals and the railway (SGS and Conhidro in the capital, Transclor and the POSCO plant in Güemes, the C-14 branch line through Rosario de Lerma); up top, in San Antonio de los Cobres, Olacapato and Tolar Grande, sit catering and camps, the local suppliers' chamber, the lime plant and cooperative transport. Both are real doors in and they do not ask for the same thing: the corridor asks for equipment and authorization, the puna asks for presence and high-altitude logistics. All of them annualise over the same 2026-2029 window, which comes from the investment deadlines of the resolutions already published, and that is why they can be added up and compared with each other. Added together they come to the order of USD 162 to 354 M per year — our own estimate, and it is worth reading with the limit attached: it is the sum of the floors against the sum of the ceilings, that is, extreme against extreme, and it is not a distribution, because the niches share drivers (the price of lithium appears as a risk in eight of the nine that were quantified). It is an order of magnitude, not a forecast, and it is not a percentage of capex: it mixes construction demand with recurring operating demand. Copper is not in here, and it is the absence that weighs most: Taca Taca is the project that decides the province's decade — USD 4,232 M of initial capital and USD 5,250 M with the expansion, according to its February 2026 technical report — but it does not appear among the regime's approved projects as of 16-Oct-2026, and the company had said it would file the application after the environmental permit and the water concession; at the company's panel at Argentina Mining Norte (Salta, 2 September 2026), where its Administration and Finance manager spoke, First Quantum said it will file it before year-end, and in April it had already signed an agreement with the IFC to align the project with its environmental and social standards, which it presents as the key to securing debt prob (the full ladder, with the milestones already met, is in «What we watch»). With no resolution there is no legal deadline to annualise anything against. Quantifying it today would mean selling a market with no date. The same goes for Pozuelos-Pastos Grandes, with its application filed and unresolved. Both are left declared and not added within each niche, so that nobody loses them or counts them twice: when the resolution comes out, the market that today appears as a ceiling moves into the count.
the matrix continues — swipe →
urgentdemand now6
sustainedthe whole curve3
Support and professional servicesSupport
Approval to the mining suppliers' register and local content auditing in SaltaUSD 0.5-4.4 M/yearAssay laboratory and brine pilot plant of the Salta PunaUSD 2.5-6 M/yearBulk chemical reagents and inputs for lithium and hard rock, and their last mile to the puna (Salta)USD 55-118 M/year
Mine coreMining core
High-altitude infrastructure
High-altitude energy: maintaining the solar and the batteries already installed in the PunaUSD 9-29 M/yearHigh-altitude logistics and export dispatch via the Paso de Sico (Salta)USD 25-39 M/year
Services and campSupport
amounts = estimated market per year (our own calculation, transparent method) · each one’s seal and source, in its profile ↓
Which of these 9 do you fit into?
There are 9 markets and not all of them are yours. Tell us what your company does and we tell you which ones it fits into, through which door and when they buy.
Where my company can get incategory
arc
Support
Support and professional services
engineering, compliance, digitalization, real estate and talent
4 niches · 3 with urgent demand
Assay laboratory and brine pilot plant of the Salta PunaMining assay laboratory and pilot plant: exploration geochemistry, brine analysis and process control for lithium plants, water and effluent monitoring, sample preparation and custody, and metallurgical testing of direct extraction technologies · mining and environmental assay laboratories (brines, water and solids) · sample preparation, conditioning and custody services at the salar · pilot plants and direct extraction metallurgical testing · a joint venture between an operator with a brand and a quality system and a Salta partner with at least 30%
USD 2.5-6 M/yearurgent demand
A perpetual core with a short competitive window. The niche's heart — the quality control of four lithium plants and a gold mine in production — scales with tonnes produced, not with construction capex…
competition It is not an oligopoly of Salta suppliers: it is self-supply, with an accredited incumbent in…
Well metrology, calibration and third-party water auditing in Salta miningInstrumentation and metrology of water and brine wells: flow control device approved by the water authority, shut-off valve, installation and filing, periodic calibration and verification with a traceable certificate, instrumentation of piezometers and monitoring networks, data link and real-time reporting, chain of custody per well and independent auditing of the water report (Puna de Los Andes and La Poma, 3,500-4,100 m above sea level, and the General Güemes chemical hub) · instrumentation and control companies able to work at altitude and to file with the water authority / calibration laboratories with a scope accredited by site in northern Argentina (non-existent today) / water auditing and data traceability consultancies independent of the operator / a joint venture between a Salta hydrogeology consultancy and a national instrumentation integrator, to sell the sealed measurement point and its certificate instead of the instrument on its own
USD 0.4-2.8 M/yearurgent demand
The urgency does not come from volume —it is the smallest market in the province— but from clocks running at once and none of them waits. The first has already rung…
competition The market is not concentrated: it is not bought
Bulk chemical reagents and inputs for lithium and hard rock, and their last mile to the puna (Salta)Process chemistry and reagent logistics (lithium and hard rock mining) · process chemistry suppliers (soda ash, lime, NaOH/HCl, phosphoric acid) and reagent logistics operators: storage and conditioning terminal at General Güemes, bagging and last mile freight licensed for dangerous goods
USD 55-118 M/yearurgent demand
It is not a window niche: the reagent is opex and it is consumed every day over the 25-40 year mine life of each operation…
competition Extreme in the molecule, thin in the freight, and with local substitution already under way in…
Approval to the mining suppliers' register and local content auditing in SaltaProfessional regulatory compliance services for Salta mining: qualification and approval of suppliers to the Provincial Registry of Local Suppliers to Mining Companies, corporate and payroll structuring to pass the four filters of Ley 8164, independent measurement and audit of the operator's local content for its Environmental Impact Statement and its biennial renewal, verification of Salta supplier status, and mining tax compliance (turnover tax exemption certificate, rate classification and the Salta-Catamarca bi-provincial Multilateral Agreement) · accounting and law firm specialized in provincial mining compliance, with an accountant and a lawyer registered with the Salta professional association / local content consultancy that measures and signs the two-basket report for the operator and defends it before the mining authority / partnership between a Salta firm and a national assurance firm, to sell the independent report nobody produces today
USD 0.5-4.4 M/yearwindow open
It is not a window that closes: it is a clock that does not stop…
competition It is the only market in the set with the structure inverted: demand is concentrated and…
Services and camp
camp, catering, transport and lab
2 niches · 2 with urgent demand
Camps, catering and the community joint venture of the Salta punaHigh-altitude mining camp services: camp operation, catering, housekeeping, industrial laundry and supply of accommodation modules (Los Andes Puna + plant canteen in General Güemes) · mining camp operators and high-altitude catering firms / puna modular construction companies / mixed joint venture (an experienced operator + a community entity or an SME from the Puna suppliers' chamber with >=30%, section 16 sub. 4 of Ley 8164)
USD 54-90 M/yearurgent demand
A double, asymmetric window: construction in the Puna runs with Rincón, whose legal deadline is 30-Jun-2029, and with Diablillos if it decides to invest in 2027 and contributes 61% of the TAM, but the operations core — four lithium plants and a gold mine already producing — is billed every month and does not switch off…
competition Two layers with opposite structures, and the entrant picks the wrong layer if it does not…
High-altitude occupational health: fitness, medical surveillance and medical transfer in the Salta punaHealth services for people working between 3,500 and 4,900 m above sea level: high-altitude fitness examination, periodic medical surveillance and telemedicine, advanced life support ambulance on standby and ground and air medical transfer, for the salt flats and mines of the Los Andes and La Poma departments · occupational medicine and occupational health providers with their own altitude medicine area, provincial health authorization and a medical director licensed in Salta / medical emergency and ground medical transfer operators with a 4x4 advanced life support ambulance and a medical transport license / a joint venture between a Salta medical provider and a national emergency operator, to sell the integrated retainer with a committed and auditable response time instead of the examination on its own
USD 3.4-8.1 M/yearurgent demand
The province's largest camp is already built and in use above 3,500 meters —its size is in the incumbent's entry—, with the legal investment deadline running to 2029…
competition It is not a concentrated market: it is a half-formed market, with demand concentrated and…
Mining core
Mine core
drilling, blasting and extraction
1 niche · 1 with urgent demand
High-altitude drilling, brine wells and hydrogeology in the Salta punaDrilling and water services for high-altitude mining: diamond exploration drilling, brine sampling, brine and water production wells, piezometers and monitoring networks, pumping tests, hydrogeological modeling and sign-off of brine resource estimates (Puna de Los Andes and La Poma, 3,500-4,100 m above sea level) · diamond and rotary drilling companies registered in the provincial register of drilling companies and technical directors / hydrogeology consultancies with a professional qualified to sign off brine resource estimates / a joint venture between a hydrogeology consultancy and a drilling company, to sell the completed well with guaranteed flow instead of the loose meter
USD 12-57 M/yearurgent demand
It is a Salta mining services market that does NOT wait for an investment decision: there are two rigs turning at El Quevar, Diablillos' phase VI started in January 2026 declared fully financed, and Fortuna Mining published a budget of 3…
competition Three layers with opposite structures, and the entrant who does not separate them picks the…
High-altitude infrastructure
mountain roads, power and transmission
2 niches · 2 with urgent demand
High-altitude energy: maintaining the solar and the batteries already installed in the PunaOperation and maintenance of mine-site generation at 3,500-4,900 m above sea level: off-grid photovoltaic plants, battery banks, gensets and dual-fuel power stations; electromechanical assembly of new generation; and diesel-to-gas conversion over the Puna's existing gas pipeline network · operation and maintenance companies for high-altitude photovoltaic and storage plants / medium-voltage electrical contractors with a license and experience in isolated systems / electromechanical erectors and steel fabricators with altitude accreditation / industrial gas connection engineering and regulation and metering stations / energy-as-a-service schemes for whoever has a balance sheet
USD 9-29 M/yearurgent demand
A double, asymmetric window, and the two halves run in opposite directions. The assembly of new generation runs until 2029 and contributes 49% of the market, but it switches off with the legal investment deadlines…
competition Three levels with opposite structures, and the entrant picks the wrong level if it does not…
High-altitude logistics and export dispatch via the Paso de Sico (Salta)High-altitude mining freight transport and logistics (bulk reagents, dangerous goods, construction inputs, product downhaul) + export clearance and consolidation through the bi-oceanic corridor · heavy high-altitude freight carriers with a dangerous goods license (NAES code 492250) / mining logistics cooperatives and SMEs based in the Puna corridor / customs transport agents and brokers operating at the Paso de Sico
USD 25-39 M/yearurgent demand
A double and asymmetric window. The construction peak runs with Rincón, whose legal deadline is 30-Jun-2029, and with Diablillos if it decides to invest in 2027 —Sal de Oro II has already finished its works—, and then switches off…
competition Two layers with opposite concentrations, and neither measurable with public data
Every opportunity carries two figures: the market per year, and what a new supplier could bill — the share of that market a company entering today can take, not the whole market. Both are estimates with a transparent method, not official data. The arc is our reading of how demand evolves (estimate/thesis). Tap an opportunity to see the competitive map, the gap and how it is calculated.
Ecosystem companies · Salta
These companies are the concrete demand a supplier invoices, and it is worth looking at them knowing which of them invoices today: 59.1% of what Salta exports in mining is gold and 26.7% lithium, so the one selling metal at scale today is Lindero, the open-pit gold mine Mansfield Minera operates in the Arizaro salar for Canada's Fortuna Mining. It produced 87,489 ounces of gold in 2025 and has guidance of 92,000 to 102,000 for 2026, with 1,091 people working between direct staff and contractors. As a mine in operation, what it buys every month is operating services, not construction services thesis. On the lithium side, two deliver product with their start-up confirmed in the issuer's own primary source: Eramine, the Argentine subsidiary of France's Eramet group, announced its first lithium carbonate from Centenario on 24 December 2024, and Posco Argentina has been operating its hydroxide plant in General Güemes since October 2024. A third, Litio Minera Argentina — of China's Ganfeng — has been producing lithium chloride at the Mariana plant, in General Güemes, since 12 February 2025 verif. The others are putting in the steel: Rincón Mining, Rio Tinto's vehicle, declares the largest total investment among the lithium projects approved under the RIGI: USD 2,744 M, of which USD 2,299 M are computable assets verif; Posco opened its second plant, for lithium carbonate, on 6 October 2026, with a capacity of 23,000 t/year, adding to the hydroxide plant it already runs verif; and AbraSilver closed the Diablillos feasibility study in June 2026, with 25 years of mine life ahead. That mix is what sets Salta apart from a province of promises: there is large construction starting and, at the same time, one mine and three plants already buying maintenance, laboratory and logistics every month. The opportunity map above comes from crossing that demand with what the province still does not know how to supply.
The crackThe way in here is not a reserved quota: it is qualifying. Salta's Ley 8164 asks, «preferentially», for 70% local content, but a project acceding to the RIGI is measured by the national yardstick — the 20% floor of Decreto 749/2024 — and there is concrete proof of how much that difference weighs: the supplier development plan Posco committed to is 21.02%, and its resolution validates it against that federal floor, not against the provincial 70%. For anyone wanting in, that orders the strategy: you compete on capability and certification, not on quota. And it is worth starting with the plants already buying operating services, where the purchase order repeats every month and does not depend on a final investment decision that has not been taken yet.
Operatorsthe corridor's demand · who operates each link6
01AbraSilver Resource Corp (Diablillos)The Canadian silver and gold company that already has feasibility…Operator›
AbraSilver Resource Corp (Diablillos)
The Canadian silver and gold company that already has feasibility…
P&P reservesverif
183.5Moz of silver
proven and probable reserves · May-2026 plus 1.76 Moz of gold · 77.9 Mt at 73 g/t Ag and 0.70 g/t Au
Initial capitalverif
721.5USD M
definitive feasibility · Jun-2026 from the investment decision to first production · RIGI computable assets USD 481.7 M
Scale and timelineverif
9,000t/day of plant
feasibility study plan 25 years of mine life · 10 Moz AgEq per year
What it does here
Silver and gold project with its definitive feasibility study closed in June 2026 and RIGI accession approved in May 2026, with a 9,000 t/day tank leaching plant and a projected 25-year mine life.
Production
No production yet: the definitive feasibility study was completed in June 2026. Study plan: a 9,000 t/day tank leaching plant, a 25-year mine life and average annual production of 10 Moz of silver equivalent. Initial capital, from the final investment decision to first production, is USD 721.5 M including contingency.
Reserves
Proven and probable reserves as of 16-May-2026: 77,911 thousand tonnes at average grades of 0.70 g/t gold and 73 g/t silver, equivalent to 183.5 Moz of silver and 1.76 Moz of gold. Measured and indicated tank-leach resources as of 30-Apr-2026: 102,021 thousand tonnes at 65 g/t silver and 0.62 g/t gold (212.7 Moz Ag and 2.04 Moz Au).
Profile
AbraSilver Resource Corp declares 100% of Diablillos, a silver and gold project: it closed its definitive feasibility study in June 2026 and already has its RIGI accession approved by Resolución 562/2026 of the Ministry of Economy, published in the Official Gazette of 11 May 2026. The holder of that accession is PACIFIC RIM MINING CORPORATION ARGENTINA S.A. (tax ID 30-67305977-1), a corporate name the resolution states and the operator does not mention on its project page; the corporate link between the two could not be opened against a primary source and is therefore not asserted here. Three different amounts coexist for this project, measuring different things and not to be added together: USD 721.5 M of initial capital per the feasibility study, USD 481.7 M of computable assets per the resolution and USD 764 M of total investment per the official RIGI portal. For the services ecosystem it is the client with the most legible calendar in the Salta puna: a project with engineering closed, scale defined at 9,000 t/day and twenty-five years of operation ahead.
RIGI projects
It closed its feasibility study in June 2026 and has RIGI approval: what it buys now is construction work —a 3.15 Mt/yr plant plus infrastructure— between 2026 and 2029, and only in 2029 does it move on to buying operating supplies. An operations supplier knocking today arrives three years too early.
It is a Canadian junior with no cash of its own for USD 764 M: what decides whether Diablillos gets built inside the stated window is not the grade of the deposit but the cost at which it raises capital, and that moves with country risk as much as with the silver price.
02Eramet Eramine (Centenario-Ratones)The French company already delivering lithium carbonate…privateOperator›
Eramet Eramine (Centenario-Ratones)
The French company already delivering lithium carbonate…
Design capacityverif
24,000t/year of carbonate
Centenario plant · close to full capacity battery grade · direct extraction (DLE) · at 90% in June 2026
Producing sinceverif
2024first carbonate
already delivering product delivered on 24-Dec-2024, after less than three years of construction
Salar resourcesverif
15Mt of LCE (more than)
drainable resources · long-term potential >75 kt/year brine at 407 mg/L · expansion of 11,000 t under study, with the investment decision not due before late 2027
What it does here
The first plant to take Eramet's direct lithium extraction technology to industrial scale, and it is already delivering product: first carbonate was announced on 24 December 2024, with a design capacity of 24,000 t/year.
Production
In production and already close to full capacity: the plant averaged 85% of its nameplate capacity in the second quarter of 2026 and reached 90% in June, with a stated goal of getting close to 100% (24,000 t/yr) by year-end. In the first half of 2026 it produced 8,440 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent and sold 8,320; guidance for full-year 2026 is 17,000 to 20,000 tonnes. It delivered its first carbonate on 24 December 2024, less than three years after breaking ground. An expansion of 11,000 tonnes a year is UNDER STUDY, which would take the plant from 24,000 to 35,000 t/yr: the pre-feasibility study is complete and detailed studies have begun, and on 1 October 2026 the company confirmed it will apply to join the RIGI, with an additional investment of about USD 350 million; the final investment decision may not come until late 2027 and the application has not been filed yet. Beyond that, the salar's resources support long-term capacity above 75,000 t/yr of LCE, with no committed date.
Reserves
Drainable mineral resources of the Centenario-Ratones salar: more than 15 Mt of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE), with an average brine concentration of 407 mg/L of lithium.
Profile
Eramine is the Argentine subsidiary of the French mining and metals group Eramet, which announced on 24 October 2024 that it was taking 100% by buying out its partner's remaining 49.9%. It operates Centenario-Ratones, the first plant to take Eramet's direct lithium extraction technology to industrial scale: it delivered its first carbonate on 24 December 2024 and by June 2026 was already running at 90% of nameplate capacity, with 8,440 tonnes produced in the first half. For the satellite-services thesis it is one of the doors in the Salta perimeter that already buys operating services rather than construction services: while Rincón builds its large plant and Diablillos starts its engineering, here there is a plant doing maintenance, moving product and contracting laboratory work every month. The 11,000-tonne expansion —about USD 350 million, which the company confirmed in October 2026 it will take to the RIGI— is still a study: the investment decision may be taken in late 2027, so construction demand from that second phase does not open before 2028.
Centenario-Ratones is already delivering product: it is the first plant to take Eramet's direct lithium extraction technology to industrial scale. An asset like that buys reagents, spares, plant services and process control every month, and that demand does not depend on any new stage being approved.
Eramet announced on October 24, 2024 that it was taking 100 %, buying from its partner the 49.9 % it was missing. A consolidation like that is decided on the certainty of being able to collect the return abroad: it is the regime's promise turned into a capital decision.
03Fortuna Mining / Mansfield Minera (Lindero)Gold mine already producing in Salta…Operator›
Fortuna Mining / Mansfield Minera (Lindero)
Gold mine already producing in Salta…
2025 productionverif
87,489oz of gold
current · year ended 31-Dec-2025 2026 guidance of 92,000 to 102,000 oz · the company attributes the 10% drop against 2024 to a 12-day stoppage of the crusher
Employmentprob
1,091people
current · year-end 2025 683 direct + 408 contractors · 98% Argentine · 30% from local communities
Purchases from suppliersprob
106USD million (2025)
current · Argentina-wide scope national purchases, not Salta ones: the press release does not break the figure down by province
What it does here
Open-pit gold mine with heap leaching, in production: it produced 87,489 ounces of gold in 2025 and 97,287 in 2024, and operates with guidance of 92,000 to 102,000 ounces for 2026. It is operated by the local subsidiary Mansfield Minera prob. As a producing mine, what it buys every month is operating services rather than construction services thesis.
Production
87,489 ounces of gold in 2025, against 97,287 in 2024: 10% less, which the company attributes mainly to a full 12-day stoppage of the tertiary crusher (HPGR) in December; the primary crusher had failed in late September. The 2026 guidance rises again, to 92,000-102,000 ounces. A total of 6,471,573 tonnes were stacked on the leach pad at an average grade of 0.58 g/t, against 0.62 g/t in 2024. That the drop does not reflect a decline of the deposit is our reading thesis.
Profile
Lindero is a producing gold mine in Salta and, as an operating mine, what it buys every month is operating services rather than construction services. It is an open-pit mine with heap leaching in the Arizaro salar, some 50 km from Tolar Grande, operated by the local subsidiary Mansfield Minera for Canada's Fortuna Mining Corp. Its product is doré, and gold was 59.1% of Salta's mining exports in 2025, ahead of lithium: while the perimeter's four lithium projects build or start up, the one invoicing in metal today is this one. For a supplier that changes the conversation: Lindero declares 1,091 people working (683 direct and 408 from contractors, 98% Argentine and 30% from local communities) and USD 106 M of purchases from suppliers in 2025 — a figure the press release gives nationally and does not break down by province, so it serves as an order of magnitude for the spillover of a metal mine in steady state, not as the spend that lands in Salta. The asset's limit is not regulatory but geological: what lies ahead is not a stuck permit but reserves that have to be replaced, and the brownfield exploration budget the company announced for 2026 is USD 3.7 M, with some 11,000 meters of drilling in neighboring Arizaro.
It is a producing gold mine in Salta, and therefore it already buys operating services every month. There is no need to wait for any construction: the market is open now and it is replacement demand, not construction demand.
It operates in the Arizaro salar, some 50 km from Tolar Grande: a puna village with nothing to absorb the spending of a mining workforce. Accommodation, food, personnel transport and services are demanded there, and they are the first entry step for someone without industrial capacity.
04Litio Minera Argentina / Ganfeng (Mariana)The Chinese company that produces in Salta at the province's only…privateOperator›
Litio Minera Argentina / Ganfeng (Mariana)
The Chinese company that produces in Salta at the province's only…
Design capacityverif
20,000t/year of chloride
construction start release · May-2022 chloride, not carbonate: the only plant for that product in Salta
Investment madeverif
980USD M
national Ministry of Economy · Feb-2025 100% Ganfeng · when construction started, in 2022, it had announced some USD 600 M
Resourcesverif
8.12Mt LCE
declared by the issuer environmental impact approved by Salta in 2021
What it does here
A 20,000 t/year lithium chloride production base with an announced investment of some USD 600 M, entirely from Ganfeng. Of the lithium plants already producing in Salta, it is the only one whose product is neither carbonate nor hydroxide, but chloride.
Production
The lithium chloride plant of the Mariana project, in the General Güemes Industrial Park, started production on 12 February 2025: the national Ministry of Economy presented it as «the third lithium mine to begin its production phase in the province», with an estimated capacity of 20,000 tonnes a year of lithium chloride and an investment of USD 980 million verif. The issuer had announced the start of construction on 30 May 2022, with the environmental impact study approved by the province in 2021, over resources of some 8.12 Mt of LCE and more than 1,700 declared local jobs verif.
Profile
Litio Minera Argentina S.A. is the vehicle through which Ganfeng Lithium, owner of 100% of the capital, develops the Mariana project in Salta. Of the lithium plants already producing in Salta, it is the only one whose product is neither lithium carbonate nor hydroxide but chloride, and that changes the chain downstream: different logistics, different packaging and a different end customer. In 2022 the issuer announced an investment of some USD 600 M for a 20,000 t/year base over resources of some 8.12 Mt of LCE, with the environmental impact study approved by the province in 2021, construction starting on 30 May 2022 and more than 1,700 declared local jobs. The plant, in the General Güemes Industrial Park, started production on 12 February 2025, according to the national Ministry of Economy, which presented it as the third lithium mine to enter production in the province, with an investment made of USD 980 million.
Of the lithium plants producing in Salta, Mariana is the only one whose product is lithium chloride rather than carbonate or hydroxide, and that changes its downstream chain: different logistics, different packaging and a different customer. The demand the asset leaves in operation is not generic lithium demand: it is specific to that product.
05Posco Argentina / POSCO (Sal de Oro)The South Korean group that industrializes lithium in the valley…privateOperator›
Posco Argentina / POSCO (Sal de Oro)
The South Korean group that industrializes lithium in the valley…
Committed local purchasingverif
21.02% of supplier payments, to local ones
supplier development plan · Resolución 1157/2026 measured against the national 20% floor (Decreto 749/2024), not against the 70% of Salta's Ley 8164
New plantverif
23,000t/year of carbonate
2nd stage approved · investment deadline 31-Jul-2029 solar evaporation · entirely for export
Computable assetsverif
207.9USD M
figure from the resolution · accession 12-Jun-2026 total investment published on the official RIGI portal: USD 547 M
What it does here
Operates the lithium hydroxide plant in the General Güemes Industrial Park, inaugurated on 24 October 2024 with 25,000 t/year of capacity verif, and its second stage, «Sal de Oro II», approved under the RIGI, is a 23,000 t/year lithium carbonate plant destined entirely for export verif. The project vehicle has its registered office in the city of Salta verif. The second-stage plant was inaugurated on 6 October 2026 in the Salar del Hombre Muerto prob.
Production
Lithium hydroxide plant in General Güemes, inaugurated on 24 October 2024 verif. The second stage approved under the RIGI adds a 23,000 t/year lithium carbonate plant by solar evaporation with calcium oxide treatment of the brine, destined entirely for export; the deadline to reach the minimum investment amount is 31 July 2029, with a milestone of at least 40% of the minimum amount within the first two years from notification verif. That plant was inaugurated on 6 October 2026 in the Salar del Hombre Muerto prob.
Profile
Posco Argentina SAU SDE (tax ID 30-71922048-3) is the special dedicated branch through which South Korea's POSCO group operates the Sal de Oro complex, and it has its registered office in the city of Salta. Its RIGI accession was approved by Resolución 1157/2026 of the Ministry of Economy, published on 31 July 2026, with USD 207,936,427.20 in computable assets; the path was not direct, because a first application from October 2024 was withdrawn by the company itself in November 2025 and the approved one is a new filing. Besides the salar, it operates the General Güemes hydroxide plant, inaugurated on 24 October 2024, so there is industrial demand for services in the valley and not only in the puna; the second-stage carbonate plant was inaugurated on 6 October 2026 in the Salar del Hombre Muerto. For the satellite-services thesis it also leaves the most concrete evidence we have on how much local purchasing the regime really requires: its supplier development plan is 21.02% and the national resolution validates it against the 20% floor of the federal regime, which is less than a third of the 70% the provincial law demands.
RIGI projects
It has two assets in operation rather than one: the carbonate plant at the salar and the hydroxide plant inaugurated at General Güemes. That leaves recurring demand at both points and, above all, permanent logistics between them, which is the most accessible market for a Salta supplier.
Construction of the 23,000 t/yr plant ran between July 2024 and July 2026: the phase that bought assembly work has already closed. A construction proposal arrives late and a recurring supply proposal arrives on time.
06Rincón Mining / Rio Tinto (Salar de Rincón)The global major already producing lithium in the Salta puna…privateOperator›
Rincón Mining / Rio Tinto (Salar de Rincón)
The global major already producing lithium in the Salta puna…
RIGI investmentverif
2,744USD M
Res. 735/2025 · Official Gazette 03-Jun-2025 computable assets USD 2,299 M · the largest total investment among the lithium projects approved under the RIGI
Full capacityverif
60,000t/year of carbonate
expansion approved Dec-2024 · produces in 2028 53,000 t/year under the RIGI · 50,000 in two trains according to Salta · direct extraction (DLE)
Producing todayverif
3,000t/year (starter plant)
«Rincón 3000» plant · in operation first lithium in Nov-2024, 32 months after buying the project
What it does here
Rio Tinto's lithium operation in Salta. The initial «Rincón 3000» plant (3,000 t/year) has been producing since November 2024; the 57,000 t/year expansion takes full capacity to 60,000 t/year, with first production expected in 2028 and three years of gradual ramp-up to full capacity. Resolución 735/2025 declares 53,000 t/year with potential of 60,000, and the Government of Salta spoke on Oct 4, 2026 of 50,000 t/year in two trains of 25,000 verif.
Production
In production since November 2024 with the initial «Rincón 3000» plant: 3,000 t/year of battery-grade lithium carbonate, reached 32 months after closing the acquisition of the project. The approved expansion adds 57,000 t/year up to a full capacity of 60,000 t/year (the RIGI commits 53,000 t/year with declared potential of 60,000): construction planned from mid-2025, subject to permits, first production expected in 2028 and three years of gradual ramp-up.
Profile
Rincón Mining PTY LTD. Sucursal Argentina (tax ID 30-70708643-9) is the vehicle through which Rio Tinto operates the Salar de Rincón, and it declares the largest total investment among the lithium projects approved under the RIGI: USD 2,744 M of total investment, of which USD 2,299 M are computable assets, approved by Resolución 735/2025 of the Ministry of Economy. Rio Tinto reached the salar by buying Rincón Mining — from funds managed by Sentient Equity Partners — in March 2022 for USD 825 M, and thirty-two months later it already had lithium: the 3,000 t/year starter plant has been producing since November 2024. What is being built now is the large plant, with direct extraction by nanofiltration instead of evaporation ponds. For the Salta services ecosystem it is the puna's anchor client: a global major with its own supplier standards, heavy construction under way in the middle of the puna and an operation that consumes services today, not in 2028.
RIGI projects
Two overlapping stages: the 25,000 t/yr plant between July 2024 and December 2027, and Rincón Full Potential up to 53,000 t/yr between 2026 and 2029. Through 2026 and 2027 it buys construction work from both at once, which is the densest window in Salta lithium.
The deadline to certify the minimum investment is Jun 30, 2029, and it falls before full capacity is operating: buying for the second stage is ordered against that date in the resolution, not against progress on the first.
Services and suppliersthe incumbents · who you compete with2
| Line of business | Companies |
|---|---|
| Construction and civil works | 1 |
| Engineering and consulting | 1 |
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