NOA · THE SUPPLIER TRACK
What the projects in Salta are going to buy
USD229million per year · sum of the TAMs of 9 niches · they overlap — the method of each one is in its own page ↓
All three tracks promise the same thing: this province, from your angle. This is the one for whoever sells — what demand each project opens, who is already covering it and where the gap is.
Ignacio Aredez· Chief analyst
Credentials and track record →Quantified niches
see ↓9
each with its USD TAM, its gap and its competitive map
Ecosystem companies
see ↓6
operators that buy and suppliers already in
Opportunities · where you come in · 9 satellite niches
The entry point to the boom: satellite-service niches quantified in USD, with their competitive map, the gap to enter and how demand evolves.
What this menu covers, said head-on: the nine 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 nine 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 authorisation, 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 357 M per year — our own estimate, and it is worth reading with the limit attached: it is the sum of the nine floors against the sum of the nine ceilings, that is, extreme against extreme, and it is not a distribution, because the nine share drivers (the price of lithium appears as a risk in eight of the nine). 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 — declared capex of USD 5,250 M in its February 2026 technical report — but its application to join the regime has not yet been filed, because the company said it will file after the environmental permit and the water concession (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, 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
emergingsmall today, growing0
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 28-45 M/year
Services and campSupport
amounts = estimated market per year (our own calculation, transparent method) · each one’s seal and source, in its profile ↓
category
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: when the construction niches switch off in 2029, this one keeps billing every month. The window that does close is the other one: 12 to 24 months until one of the two reference laboratories registers accredited scope for lithium in brines with a site in Salta.
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 three clocks running at once and none of them waits. The regime of Argentine accredited calibration is being rebuilt since INTI Resolution 198/2025, which declared the Argentine Calibration and Measurement Service dissolved on 1 December 2025, and 58 laboratories have already migrated: the board is reshuffled today and will be settled in a couple of years. The environmental permit of the shared-area project is what turns the obligation to measure into a purchase specification, and it is being decided now. And the agreement that creates that obligation carries its own switch: when Congress settles the boundary between the two provinces, it lapses. Whoever arrives with the technical specification written before it exists defines the tender specification the purchase is later made against.
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. Salta's four lithium plants already buy today, and the base grows with Sal de Oro II, the expanded Rincón and Diablillos towards 2029-2030. It is the only niche in batch A with no post-2029 cliff.
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 Act 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 specialised 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. The supplier certificate expires every 2 years and the whole roll rotates, the environmental impact study is accredited at every biennial renewal, the exemption certificate expires and is renewed, and compliance in two jurisdictions is filed every month. That is why it is one of the few markets in the province that does NOT switch off when the construction window ends in 2029. What does have a date is the structuring peak brought by the works starting now, and a concrete tax window for whoever registers: a zero rate for up to twelve months for a new taxpayer, expiring on 31 December 2026 unless extended.
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 a CAPROSEMITP SME with >=30%, section 16 sub. 4 of Act 8164)
USD 51-86 M/yearurgent demand
A double, asymmetric window: construction in the Puna runs until 2029 (Rincón 30-Jun-2029, Sal de Oro II 31-Jul-2029) 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. What is bought now is operating the camp Rio Tinto already built; what is bought in 2027-2028 are Diablillos' 1,600 beds, and that depends on a Q2-2027 FID.
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 licence / 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 3.5-8.5 M/yearurgent demand
The province's largest camp is already built and in use above 3,500 metres —its size is in the incumbent's entry—, with the legal investment deadline running to 2029. Part of this service is paid for today -the fitness examination is compulsory under the workers' compensation regime- and part is waiting for a trigger. The closest one is not an Argentine rule: it is the four international institutions that financed that project with USD 1,175 M in March 2026 and that audit occupational health and safety. And unlike almost every other service in the province, this one does not switch off in 2029: as long as there are people on a 7 by 7 roster in those camps, there is fitness, surveillance and transfer.
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 modelling 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 metre
USD 12-57 M/yearurgent demand
It is the only 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 has 3.7 million dollars approved for exploration in 2026. What is being bought now is silver and gold metres; what arrives later, with every plant that enters operation, is the brine well and its hydrogeology, which is the recurring part and the one that does not switch off in 2029.
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 licence 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. The diesel-to-gas conversion over the 321 kilometres of pipe already reaching the Puna is an opportunity WITH AN EXPIRY DATE: it closes when the transmission line arrives, and the Diablillos study itself writes the date when it says it connects to the grid in year 3. The only perpetual part is the maintenance of the megawatts already installed — 120 MW at Mariana operating since 2025, 6 MWp at Lindero since September of that year — and it is small: on the order of USD 4.3 M/year for the whole province. What is bought now is maintaining what is already installed; what is bought in 2027-2029 is assembling Diablillos' generation.
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 28-45 M/yearurgent demand
A double and asymmetric window. The construction peak runs to 2029 by legal deadline (Rincón 30-Jun-2029, Sal de Oro II 31-Jul-2029) and then switches off; the operating core -reagents going up, product coming down- is perpetual and is already BIGGER than construction measured in tonne-kilometres. On top of that two clocks beyond anyone's control are running: the tender for the 91 km of gravel on RN 51 (if it comes late, Chile consolidates the flow through Jama) and the 50-year concession of the C-14 line (if the train scales, it eats the long-distance bulk).
competition Two layers with opposite concentrations, and neither measurable with public data
The market figures 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 only one already selling metal at scale is Lindero, the open-pit 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. It is the province's only door that buys operating services for a metal mine rather than for a construction site. 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, took its first lithium carbonate out of 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 — built the perimeter's only lithium chloride plant at Mariana, although the production start-up does not appear confirmed in the issuer's primary source: what was opened is the start of construction. The others are putting in the steel: Rincón Mining, Rio Tinto's vehicle, holds the largest RIGI commitment in Argentine lithium at USD 2,744 M verif Res. 735 in the official gazette; Posco is adding a 23,000 t/year carbonate plant to the one 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 two 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 Act 8164 asks for 70% local content, but a project acceding to the RIGI is measured by the national yardstick — the 20% floor of decree 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 two 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
The most advanced silver and gold project in the Salta perimeter: definitive feasibility closed in June 2026 and RIGI accession approved, 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, the most advanced silver and gold project in the Salta perimeter: it closed its definitive feasibility study in June 2026 and already has its RIGI accession approved by Resolution 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
02Eramet Eramine (Centenario-Ratones)The French company already delivering lithium carbonate from the…privateOperator›
Eramet Eramine (Centenario-Ratones)
The French company already delivering lithium carbonate from the…
Design capacityverif
24,000t/year of carbonate
Centenario plant · producing battery grade · direct extraction (DLE) at industrial scale
Producing sinceverif
2024first carbonate
one of the two already delivering delivered on 24-Dec-2024, after less than three years of construction
Salar resourcesverif
15Mt of LCE (more than)
drainable resources · Jan-2024 brine at 407 mg/L · option to grow above 75 kt/year
What it does here
The first plant in the world to take Eramet's direct lithium extraction to industrial scale, and one of the two operations in the Salta perimeter already delivering product: first carbonate on 24 December 2024, with a design capacity of 24,000 t/year.
Production
In production: first lithium carbonate delivered on 24 December 2024, after construction that began less than three years earlier. Design capacity of 24,000 t/year of battery-grade lithium carbonate. The salar's resources support an option to grow capacity above 75,000 t/year 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 took 100% on 24 October 2024 by buying out its partner's remaining 49.9%. It operates Centenario-Ratones, the first plant in the world to take Eramet's direct lithium extraction to industrial scale, and delivered its first carbonate on 24 December 2024, less than three years after breaking ground. For the satellite-services thesis it is one of only two 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 salar's resources, of more than 15 Mt of LCE at 407 mg/L, also leave it the option to scale above 75,000 t/year, although the group has committed to no date.
03Fortuna Mining / Mansfield Minera (Lindero)The only metal mine already producing in Salta — and the gold…Operator›
Fortuna Mining / Mansfield Minera (Lindero)
The only metal mine already producing in Salta — and the gold…
2025 productionverif
87,489oz of gold
current · year ended 31-Dec-2025 2026 guidance of 92,000 to 102,000 oz · the 10% drop against 2024 was a 12-day stoppage of the crusher, not decline
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 company does not break the figure down by province
What it does here
The province's only producing metal mine, and the only Salta operation that buys OPERATING services at metal-mine scale rather than construction services: an open-pit mine with heap leaching that produced 87,489 ounces of gold in 2025 and 97,287 in 2024, operating with guidance of 92,000 to 102,000 ounces for 2026. The local vehicle is Mansfield Minera S.A.
Production
87,489 ounces of gold in 2025, against 97,287 in 2024 — 10% less, due to an operational stoppage and not to deposit decline: the HPGR tertiary crusher was out of service for 12 days in December and the primary one 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.
Profile
Lindero is Salta's only producing metal mine, and therefore the province's only door already buying operating services at metal-mine scale — not construction services — every month. It is an open-pit gold mine with heap leaching in the Arizaro salar, some 50 km from Tolar Grande, operated by Mansfield Minera S.A. for Canada's Fortuna Mining Corp. Its product is doré, and that gold is what explains why 59.1% of Salta's mining exports are gold and not 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 company reports 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 metres of drilling in neighbouring Arizaro.
04Litio Minera Argentina / Ganfeng (Mariana)The Chinese company that chose Salta for the perimeter's only…privateOperator›
Litio Minera Argentina / Ganfeng (Mariana)
The Chinese company that chose Salta for the perimeter's only…
Projected capacityverif
20,000t/year of chloride
construction start release · May-2022 chloride, not carbonate: the only one in the Salta perimeter
Announced investmentverif
600USD M (some)
issuer announcement · May-2022 100% Ganfeng · more than 1,700 declared local jobs
Resourcesverif
8.12Mt de 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. It is the only project in the perimeter whose product is neither carbonate nor hydroxide, but chloride.
Production
What this seal covers is the OPERATING STATUS, and that is why it goes as probable: there is no primary source declaring the start of production. The issuer published the start of construction — 30 May 2022, with the environmental impact study approved by the province in 2021 — but not a production start-up release. The project's capacity and scale (20,000 t/year of chloride over resources of some 8.12 Mt of LCE, plus more than 1,700 declared local jobs) are sealed as verified and reported above, within the perimeter of the operation.
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. It is the only one in the Salta perimeter 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. 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. What this observatory has not yet been able to open against a primary source is the production start date: the operations start-up release is not in the issuer's press room, so the operating status is reported as probable and not as verified.
05Posco Argentina / POSCO (Sal de Oro)The South Korean group that industrialises lithium in the valley…privateOperator›
Posco Argentina / POSCO (Sal de Oro)
The South Korean group that industrialises lithium in the valley…
Committed local purchasingverif
21.02% to suppliers
supplier development plan · Res. 1157/2026 measured against the national 20% floor (decree 749/2024), not against the 70% of Salta's Act 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 announced investment USD 547 M (probable, official announcement Jun-2026)
What it does here
The only lithium operator in the Salta perimeter that also industrialises outside the salar: its General Güemes hydroxide plant has been operating since October 2024, and the approved second stage adds a 23,000 t/year carbonate plant destined entirely for export. The project vehicle has its registered office in the city of Salta.
Production
Lithium hydroxide plant operating in General Güemes since October 2024. 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.
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 Resolution 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. What sets it apart from the rest of the perimeter is that it does not stop at the salar: the General Güemes hydroxide plant has been operating since October 2024, which means there is industrial demand for services in the valley and not only in the puna. For the satellite-services thesis it also leaves the most concrete evidence this observatory has 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
06Rincón Mining / Rio Tinto (Salar de Rincón)The global major already producing lithium in the Salta puna, and…privateOperator›
Rincón Mining / Rio Tinto (Salar de Rincón)
The global major already producing lithium in the Salta puna, and…
RIGI investmentverif
2,744USD M
Res. 735/2025 · Official Gazette 03-Jun-2025 computable assets USD 2,299 M · the largest RIGI commitment in Argentine lithium
Full capacityverif
60,000t/year of carbonate
expansion approved Dec-2024 · produces in 2028 53,000 t/year committed under the RIGI · 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
The only lithium operation of a global diversified major in Argentina. The «Rincón 3000» starter 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 a 3-year ramp-up.
Production
In production since November 2024 with the «Rincón 3000» starter plant: 3,000 t/year of battery-grade lithium carbonate, reached 32 months after closing the acquisition of the greenfield 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 from mid-2025, first production expected in 2028 and a 3-year ramp-up.
Profile
Rincón Mining PTY LTD. Argentine Branch (tax ID 30-70708643-9) is the vehicle through which Rio Tinto operates the Salar de Rincón, and it is the largest RIGI commitment in Argentine lithium: USD 2,744 M of total investment, of which USD 2,299 M are computable assets, approved by Resolution 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
How to read the seals → verif primary source · prob primary source pending · unconf not sufficiently backed · estim our own calculation · thesis our reading
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