Pozuelos-Pastos Grandes (PPG)
The largest RIGI application filed by Salta and the one its portfolio was missing: >USD 3,000 M across three phases over the Pozuelos and Pastos Grandes salt flats, filed in the first quarter of 2026 and still unresolved, with approval expected by the company by the end of 2026. Build-out capacity across the three phases is 150,000 tonnes a year of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE), stated as such by Lithium Argentina on 24-Aug-2026 — previously the two press sources gave it as «tonnes of lithium» without specifying the unit, and the gap between the two readings is ~5.3×. The project brings three neighboring deposits under a single basin-wide development: Ganfeng's Pozuelos-Pastos Grandes and Lithium Argentina's Pastos Grandes and Sal de la Puna. The joint venture was signed on 24-Aug-2026 with 67% Ganfeng and 33% Lithium Argentina, Ganfeng operates from Salta, and completion was expected by the end of September 2026. The two companies have invested USD 1,800 M between property acquisition and development, and are still looking for a minority investor to finance construction.
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.
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
We cross what your company does against the projects we track and tell you which ones it fits into, through which door and who it competes against. Two pages, with the evidence behind them.
Where my company can get inThe project
what it is, the route, the owners, the works and the contractors
Who owns it
Ganfeng Lithium 67 % and Lithium Argentina AG 33 %, under the Dutch holding company Millennial Lithium B.V.; Ganfeng's team in Salta is the operator. The joint venture was signed under definitive agreements on 24-Aug-2026 and its completion was expected by the end of September 2026. Ganfeng holds its stake through Ganfeng Lithium LATAM and its subsidiary Lithea Inc. prob Aug 24, 2026 ↗
The works, milestone by milestone
Ganfeng and Lithium Argentina sign the definitive joint venture agreements: 67% and 33%, consolidated under the Dutch Millennial Lithium B.V., with Ganfeng's team in Salta as operator and closing expected in September 2026, according to Lithium Argentina's own release.
Ganfeng subscribes a six-year USD 180M convertible note issued by Lithium Argentina, at 4.0% a year and convertible at USD 12.50 per share. ⛔ It is not money for the project: the proceeds, together with cash on hand, go to fully repay a USD 259M debt maturing in January 2027.
The joint venture consolidates three adjacent deposits in Salta —Ganfeng's Pozuelos-Pastos Grandes, plus Lithium Argentina's Pastos Grandes and Sal de la Puna— into a single basin-wide development, targeting 150,000 tonnes a year of lithium carbonate equivalent across three phases.
The RIGI accession application is filed for more than USD 3,000 M across three stages. Lithium Argentina itself later confirmed it: « Application submitted in Q1 2026, incorporating the full 150,000 tpa of LCE development plan, with approval expected by the end of 2026 ».
The province reports that the project already holds the environmental impact declaration for its first stage and announces Ganfeng's commitment with CAPEMISA on Salta suppliers. The declared development runs in three stages, with an initially approved capacity of 50,000 t/yr scalable to 150,000 t/yr, a 25-year life and a 3-year ramp-up.
What it leaves in Salta
jobs, works, taxes, promises and the outlook
The place where it is built
Los Andes, Salta, before the RIGI: the official snapshot of November 2023, counting the people who live there.
2,071 jobs in November 2023, 32% of them in public administration verif Nov 2023 ↗
933 jobs: 590 in mining and 343 in construction verif Nov 2023 ↗
from 345 to 590 jobs verif Nov 2023 ↗
2 in 2022 verif 2022 ↗
1.3 times estim Nov 2023
The works that stay behind
The project has been filed under the RIGI and has not been approved yet. Permanent works are documented once construction starts.
What it already pays in taxes and royalties
The project has been filed under the RIGI and has not been approved yet. Royalties and production taxes begin with operation.
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
The project has been filed under the RIGI and has not been approved yet. The instrument is published in the Boletín Oficial once the Committee approves the accession.
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-01When construction starts and when operation begins+
The schedule of a RIGI project is read in the recitals of its admission resolution, and this project has no resolution published in the Official Gazette yet: it has been filed or announced, not approved. What circulates in the press are tentative company dates, with no act fixing them.
H-02Who holds a contract on the project, and the permanent infrastructure it would leave behind+
This is a pre-construction project with three open blockers — the joint venture not yet closed, the financing still being assembled and the RIGI application unresolved — so there are no awards to look for: no source names a PPG contractor, and the contracts Ganfeng holds at Mariana, a different project of the same operator in the same province, are not counted as this project's. Likewise, no permanent infrastructure has been published with a magnitude.
We look at what your company does and tell you whether we see a sign that it fits this market, with the evidence behind it. If we do not see one, we say so too and name the condition that would change it. One page as a dated PDF, within 48 working hours.
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