Cauchari-Olaroz Expansion — lithium carbonate (Exar)
First expansion of an operating lithium project to enter the RIGI as a standalone project (dedicated-branch structure): it validates the expansion route over existing assets without contaminating the incentives of the parent project. Employment estimated by the Mining Secretariat (outside the resolution's operative text): 1,787 jobs across construction and operation.
The projectwhat it is, the route, the owners, the works and the contractors
Who owns it
Minera Exar Dedicated Branch — EXARSD (CUIT 30-71924298-3; Minera Exar = Ganfeng Lithium / Lithium Argentina JV) verif Jun 5, 2026 ↗
The works, milestone by milestone
The owner reports that the updated development plan for the expansion is expected around the end of the third quarter of 2026, and that the environmental impact assessment has been filed but not approved.
The Ministry of Economy approves the accession through Resolución 825/2026: an additional 45,000 t/year of lithium carbonate, with eligible assets of USD 1,166,677,726. It is the first project in Jujuy to obtain approval.
Accession date to the RIGI for the «Ampliación Caucharí Olaroz» project, set by article 2 of the ruling.
The fifth instalment of the Grupo Minero Los Boros agreement, USD 200,000, is paid after being suspended since August 2022.
Jujuy issues Decreto Acuerdo 290-DEyP/2024, requiring mining producers to contract at least 70 % of their annual spend with registered local suppliers and to have 70 % of their payroll domiciled in the province.
The existing operation starts producing lithium carbonate.
The five-year contract for servicing the evaporation ponds begins, with a consortium 49 % owned by Magna Construcciones.
Jujuy's Official Gazette publishes the environmental impact study for the electrical infrastructure: 56 km of double-circuit 33 kV line from the Cauchari solar park, at 28 MW.
Minera Exar signs the option agreement with Grupo Minero Los Boros S.A. transferring mining properties that make up part of Cauchari-Olaroz.
Who already has a contract
Two contracts with opposite numbers in the same quarter. Verbatim from the owner’s report: «No expenditures were incurred under the construction services contract for the Cauchari-Olaroz project with Magna Construcciones S.R.L. ("Magna") for the three months ended March 31, 2026»; and «Service agreement with a consortium owned 49% by Magna. The agreement, entered into in Q1 2022, relates to the servicing of the evaporation ponds at Cauchari-Olaroz over a five-year term. For the three months ended March 31, 2026, transactions under this agreement totaled $4.8 million (including VAT)». Both are reported as related-party transactions: Magna is controlled by the family of a Minera Exar director who is also a director of Lithium Argentina.
USD 7.9 million in purchases of materials and supplies in the first quarter of 2026, against USD 12.7 million in the same period of 2025. Verbatim: «These transactions are settled by Minera Exar upon delivery of the goods and receipt of supplier documentation».
In February 2026 the fifth instalment of the agreement, USD 200,000, was paid after the schedule had been suspended since August 2022. Verbatim: «During the first quarter of 2026, the Company resumed discussions with Grupo Minero Los Boros regarding the agreed quarterly payment schedule, which had been suspended since August 2022».
How to supply itwhere to register, what they ask for and what they will buy
How to become a supplier
Minera Exar Sucursal Dedicada (EXARSD), CUIT 30-71924298-3, with offices at Palma Carrillo 54, ground floor 7, San Salvador de Jujuy. ⚠️ IT IS A DEDICATED BRANCH AND THAT CHANGES WHO YOU INVOICE: the RIGI covers only the expansion, so purchasing for the operation already running still goes to Minera Exar S.A. rather than to the branch. A supplier needs to know which of the two is buying, because the customs and foreign-exchange treatment is not the same.
Procurement runs through two desks: Minera Exar in Jujuy for the operation, and Exar Capital B.V., a group company domiciled in the Netherlands, which buys materials and supplies on behalf of Minera Exar and settles on delivery of the goods and of the supplier's paperwork. The expansion's process equipment is being handled by Ganfeng Lithium, a project partner, with engineering done in China: the local window is not the equipment but on-site erection and field services.
The registration routes that exist today, with their status. The one that is up and running is not always the official one.
Provincial Register of Local Suppliers to Mining Producers
up and running todayCreated by article 1 of Decreto Acuerdo 290-DEyP/2024 within the Ministry of Economic Development and Production, which is its enforcement authority. ⭐ Being registered is not just another formality: article 5 requires mining producers to contract at least 70 % of their total annual spend «con PROVEEDORES LOCALES inscriptos en el Registro», so a sale made from outside the roll does not count towards the miner's compliance. Registration is free and is done at the front desk of the Secretaría de Desarrollo Industrial y Comercial, at Ascasubi 290 in San Salvador de Jujuy — with the paperwork on a USB drive, which is mandatory — or through the site's digital form.
Go to the single windowabrirWhat they ask you for
Real, legal and tax domicile in Jujuy, maintained for at least two years after registering; and, for a company, 50 % or more of the capital in the hands of Jujuy-domiciled shareholders, or a branch or representative office in the province verif Feb 28, 2024 ↗Verbatim from article 3 of Decreto Acuerdo 290-DEyP/2024: «Constituir y mantener domicilio real, legal y fiscal en la Provincia de Jujuy. El cual deberá mantenerse vigente por al menos dos (2) años luego de realizada la inscripción. Para el caso en que el proveedor sea una persona jurídica, deberá estar inscripta en la Provincia de Jujuy y que el cincuenta por ciento (50%) o más de su composición societaria, esté en poder de uno o más socios o accionistas con domicilio real o legal en la Provincia; o que establezca sucursal u oficina de representación en la Provincia».
At least 70 % of your own payroll with real domicile in Jujuy, and professionals registered with the provincial licensing body for at least a year verif Feb 28, 2024 ↗Verbatim from article 3, subsection b): «Verificar que al menos el setenta por ciento (70%) de su nómina de trabajadores tengan domicilio real en la Provincia de Jujuy, garantizando su permanencia; en el caso de profesionales y técnicos especializados, deberán estar matriculados en el correspondiente organismo habilitante de la Provincia verificando una antigüedad no menor a un año; sin perjuicio de ello, podrá requerirse un sistema progresivo de contratación».
In a temporary joint venture, at least 30 % of the parties must be local suppliers verif Feb 28, 2024 ↗Verbatim from article 3, subsection c): «En el caso de Unión Transitoria (artículos 1.463 siguientes y concordantes del Código Civil y Comercial), las partes reunidas deben estar conformadas al menos en un treinta por ciento (30%) con proveedores locales».
No enforceable debts to the provincial state, and not bankrupt or in insolvency proceedings without the judge's authorisation verif Feb 28, 2024 ↗Verbatim from article 4: «No podrán ser considerados proveedores locales: a) Quienes registren deudas exigibles e impagas a favor del Estado Provincial; b) Los fallidos y los concursados, salvo en el caso que éstos últimos cuenten con autorización expresa del Juez del Concurso a tales efectos».
A certificate of residence issued by the police, less than two months old, and the paperwork on a USB drive if the application is filed on paper verif ↗The Register's rules require, for individuals, «Fotocopia autenticada del Documento Nacional de Identidad del titular» and «Certificado de residencia del solicitante, expedido por la policía y con una antigüedad no menor a dos (2) meses», among other paperwork. A paper application is filed at the front desk of the Secretaría de Desarrollo Industrial y Comercial «con la documentación correspondiente en soporte digital (pen drive excluyente)».
The order you get in by
Register with the Provincial Register of Local Suppliers to Mining Producers: without it your sale does not count towards the miner's 70 %, so this is the first step, not the last
File the application at Ascasubi 290 in San Salvador de Jujuy with the paperwork on a USB drive, or fill in the digital form; you get a file number and, once approved, a registration number with its certificate no published timeframe; the process is free
If the company is from outside Jujuy, set up a branch or representative office in the province, which is the alternative the rule allows to holding 50 % local capital
If your price ends up within 10 % of an out-of-province offer, invoke the mechanism in article 5: the miner is required to formally ask you to adjust the price and to report it to the Register, not to drop your bid
To sell to the expansion rather than to the operation, check which of the two legal entities is buying: the RIGI's dedicated branch or Minera Exar S.A.
What it will buy, and when
Three phases with windows of their own: the initial 5,000 t/yr module between 2026 and 2030, the wells, ponds and the 45,000 t/yr commercial plant over five more years, and operation from December 2028. Wells and evaporation ponds buy earthmoving and geomembranes; the plant buys process equipment. They are neither the same market nor the same year.
The full investment comes in over 90 months counted from July 2026 and the deadline to certify the minimum investment is Jul 1, 2030: that date, and not the end of the expansion, is what orders when buying happens.
⭐ Here the rule reads in reverse, and it is worth saying so: what this project leaves behind is less a work for third parties than a demand for permanent service. A field of evaporation ponds of this size needs continuous maintenance, and that contract is worth USD 4.8 million a quarter today. A brine operation buys service every month; a mine under construction buys works once.
Each phase buys different things at different times.
Initial 5,000 t/yr lithium carbonate module
under wayVerbatim from the act: the completion of preliminary works in the southern area of Salar Caucharí and «the construction of an initial module for the production of five thousand tonnes (5,000 t) per year of LCE to be executed within a term of four (4) years». The investment plan for the first two years is USD 37,967,590 and USD 58,787,877.
They are not buying any of this today. Open the phase to see the detail and arrive qualified the day it goes to tender.
What it will need and has no supplier for yet
EPC and assembly of carbonate plant modules (initial 5,000 tpa module + scale-up to 45,000 tpa)
highThe expansion is essentially building a new plant next to a live operation: staged industrial assembly over ~7 years.
We cross what you manufacture or do against the 3 phases of this project and tell you which ones you fit into and when each one buys. Two pages, with the evidence behind them.
Analyze my companyWhat it leaves in Jujuyjobs, works, taxes, promises and the outlook
How many jobs it creates
1,787 jobs across construction and operation, according to the Mining Secretariat's estimate. ⚠️ a COMBINED figure for construction AND operation, and for direct plus indirect on top of that: it is not a construction jobs number unconf Jun 5, 2026
The works that stay behind
The infrastructure that stays standing once the works end, with its size and its source.
Double-circuit 33 kV overhead line, from the Cauchari solar park to the mine's substation
Powermetres of double-circuit 33 kV overhead line along Provincial Route 70 B, plus a 33/13.2 kV substation, the 13.2 kV networks to the ponds and wells, and underground runs to the plant, the camp and the emergency thermal station
The Puna of Susques. The line connects the operation to the Cauchari solar park — Argentina's largest, owned by the province — rather than to generation of its own: it is linking infrastructure between two assets that stay, and its route follows a provincial road.
Works described in the project's electrical environmental impact study, published in Jujuy's Official Gazette on August 21, 2019, with a capacity of 28 MW.
Battery-grade lithium carbonate plant and its evaporation pond field
ProductiveIt is the project's own asset rather than a work for third parties, but it belongs in the inventory for what it drags along: a pond field of that size needs permanent servicing — the contract worth USD 4.8 million a quarter today — and it is the steadiest demand a brine operation leaves behind.
The existing plant has a nameplate capacity of 40,000 t/year and has been in production since 2023. The expansion approved by Resolución 825/2026 adds 45,000 t/year, taking it to 85,000.
- What it already pays in taxes and royalties — We have not broken down this project’s local fiscal contribution: the primary source that sets each item still has to be opened, and an act of the State is not published on press backing.
- Who promised what — We have not surveyed the public promises about this project. A dated, verifiable commitment with its source closes them.
What could stall itrisks and how to track them
- What could stall it — We have not documented this project’s risks. An identifiable vector with its source closes them.
- How to tell whether it is advancing — We have not defined this project’s indicators: what observable fact marks its progress still has to be identified.
How we verified thisthe act, the gaps and the sources
The RIGI act, in detail
EX-2025-140126020- -APN-SCEYM#MEC verif Jun 5, 2026 ↗
May 9, 2026 verif Jun 5, 2026 ↗
The act’s articles, in detail
4 facts on the commitment
20 % of the amount earmarked for suppliers that goes to LOCAL suppliers verif Jun 5, 2026 ↗
The entire investment amount earmarked for paying suppliers, goods and infrastructure works, during the Single Project's construction and operation stages verif Jun 5, 2026 ↗
1 July 2030 to complete the minimum investment amount. verif Jul 1, 2030 ↗
Minera Exar Sucursal Dedicada (EXARSD), tax ID 30-71924298-3, registered at calle Palma R. Carrillo N° 54, ground floor 7, Doctor Manuel Belgrano department, San Salvador de Jujuy. verif Jun 5, 2026 ↗
What we could not confirm
There are 4 in this project. Each says why it could not be confirmed and what it would take to close it.
H-01How many people the construction employs and how many stay working in operation+
No RIGI accession ruling publishes the number: they say the company «proporcionó la estimación del empleo directo e indirecto del Proyecto con integración local» and do not transcribe it. The only figure in circulation — 1,787 jobs — adds construction to operation AND direct to indirect, and comes from the Mining Secretariat's portal, outside the ruling's text. It is on file with its defect declared and a `sin_confirmar` seal, not split.
H-02How many suppliers are on the provincial register, which is what measures real competition+
Decreto Acuerdo 290-DEyP/2024 requires at least 70 % of the annual amount to be contracted with registered suppliers, but the register does not publish its roll: the suppliers subdomain returns only its title and the listing routes error out. The roll that is published is the one for PRODUCERS — 30 filings, 12 approved as of September 6, 2026 — that is, the miners, not the suppliers. Without that number you cannot measure the gap between what the rule demands and what registered supply can cover.
H-03Who will build the expansion+
There is no award for engineering, erection, wells or the direct extraction technology. The federal ruling approves a supplier plan at 20 % and a list of goods to import, with no names. And the owner itself reported that the updated development plan is expected around the end of the third quarter of 2026 and that the environmental impact assessment has been filed but not approved. The contractors on file are from the operation already running, not from the expansion.
H-04The project's electrical infrastructure was not opened in its primary source+
The 56,283 metres of double-circuit 33 kV line from the Cauchari solar park, with its 28 MW, come from the electrical environmental impact study published in Jujuy's Official Gazette on August 21, 2019, which has not yet been read in its original publication. It is published as `probable` and with its source declared.
- 10+ years in data science for clients across Europe and the Americas
- Certified in AI governance (ISO/IEC 42001)
- Machine Learning (Google Cloud)
- Registered expert with the European Commission