Hombre Muerto Oeste (HMW) — lithium carbonate (Galan)
Lithium brine project in the Salar del Hombre Muerto (western zone), to produce 12,000 t/yr of lithium carbonate equivalent. Official portal: 670 jobs (direct and indirect).
How to supply it
what we have for a supplier, and how to request it
What we have on this project for a supplier
Who decides the purchase, who you invoice and where a new supplier registers.
Which lines each phase buys and when the window opens for each one.
Which they are, why it will need them and who could provide them.
Who they are, what each one does and how to sell to them.
All of this is surveyed and verified against its source. Crossed with what you sell —which of them your products suit, how to reach it and when— it is in your company report. Request the report
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Where my company can get inThe project
what it is, the route, the owners, the works and the contractors
Who owns it
GALAN LITIO SA (CUIT 30-71736364-3); RIGI vehicle: its Dedicated Branch (CUIT 30-71899846-4). Parent: Galan Lithium Ltd (ASX: GLN). verif Aug 28, 2025 ↗
The works, milestone by milestone
The Government of Catamarca announces that Galan will inaugurate its Hombre Muerto Oeste plant in October 2026, with no confirmed date, with a projected 5,000 t per year.
Galan Litio and the Government of Catamarca sign two agreements: an addendum to the Acta Compromiso adapting it to the RIGI framework, with a contribution of 50% of the estimated royalty from the first year of sales for works in Antofagasta de la Sierra, and a one-off contribution of USD 300,000 to the mining royalties trust fund for the upgrade and new routing of Provincial Route 43.
Galan states that the pond works for the Phase 1 expansion —from 4,000 to 5,200 t/yr of lithium carbonate equivalent— start within the September 2026 quarter, with the capacity uplift targeted at the first half of 2027 and no plant modifications. Verbatim: «pond construction works will commence within the September 2026 quarter».
Verbatim from the issuer: «The June 2026 quarter marked Galan's transition from developer to producer», with the plant's wet commissioning completed and the first production of processed lithium chloride.
Galan Litio and the Government of Catamarca sign the agreement for a voluntary and exceptional contribution of USD 250,000 to the mining royalties trust, for the first 60.3 km stretch of Ruta Provincial 43 between Antofagasta de la Sierra and the Salta border.
Resolución 1271/2025 of the Ministry of Economy is published, approving the adhesion: USD 217,090,266 computable, 12,000 t/yr of lithium carbonate equivalent, and the highest local-content commitment in the published portfolio, 95.34% of the amount earmarked for paying suppliers.
The project's RIGI adhesion date, fixed by the act that later approved it.
What it leaves in Catamarca
jobs, works, taxes, promises and the outlook
The place where it is built
Antofagasta de la Sierra, Catamarca, before the RIGI: the official snapshot of November 2023, counting the people who live there.
1,524 jobs in November 2023, 52% of them in public administration verif Nov 2023 ↗
211 jobs: 124 in mining and 87 in construction verif Nov 2023 ↗
from 50 to 124 jobs verif Nov 2023 ↗
0 in 2022 verif 2022 ↗
2.2 times estim Nov 2023
The works that stay behind
The infrastructure that stays standing once the works end, with its size and its source.
First paved stretch of Ruta Provincial 43, between Antofagasta de la Sierra and the Salta border
Roadsof base works and paving, with a USD 250,000 contribution from Galan Litio to the trust that finances it
The towns of the Catamarca Puna and anyone who uses the road. The work belongs to the Dirección Provincial de Vialidad and remains a provincial route: it is not a private mine road, and the miner's contribution is applied to paying progress certificates on a public work.
The contribution is channelled through the Fondo Fiduciario de Regalías Mineras, on the basis of article 3.1 of the mining trust agreement, and is paid in a single disbursement within five business days of signing. The Dirección Provincial de Vialidad is the contracting authority.
- 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 it
risks 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 this
the act, the gaps and the sources
The RIGI act, in detail
EX-2024-118669988- -APN-SCEYM#MEC verif Aug 28, 2025 ↗
Jul 17, 2025 verif Aug 28, 2025 ↗
The act’s articles, in detail
4 facts on the commitment
95,34 % of the amount earmarked for suppliers that goes to LOCAL suppliers verif Aug 28, 2025 ↗
The entire investment amount earmarked for paying suppliers, goods and infrastructure works, during the construction and operation stages verif Aug 28, 2025 ↗
31 December 2029 to complete the minimum investment amount. verif Dec 31, 2029 ↗
GALÁN SDE (dedicated or special branch of Galán Litio S.A.), tax ID 30-71899846-4, registered at Rivadavia 378, city of Salta. verif Aug 28, 2025 ↗
What we could not confirm
There are 2 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 admission resolution publishes the figure: the seventeen that are published state that the company «provided the estimate of direct and indirect employment of the Project with local integration» and do not transcribe it. The official RIGI portal publishes a single figure that adds direct and indirect jobs together and does not separate the two stages, and mixing them is exactly the error the `empleo` field exists to prevent.
H-02Who is building the ponds and the civil works of Hombre Muerto West+
Neither the issuer's quarterly report nor the feasibility study publishes the name of the ponds, earthworks or camp contractor. The feasibility study goes as far as saying that the preferred ponds contractor must install a workshop on site, and still does not name it. Two independent investigations of this project declared the gap separately, which is the sign that the absence belongs to the world and not to the search.
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