Sal de Oro II — lithium carbonate (POSCO)
Second stage of POSCO's Sal de Oro lithium complex in the Salar del Hombre Muerto, on the disputed Salta/Catamarca border strip: it adds a 23,000 t/yr lithium carbonate plant to the hydroxide plant opened in Oct-2024 in General Güemes (Salta). Approved by RESOL-2026-1157-APN-MEC with USD 207,936,427.20 in computable assets and a RIGI accession date of 12-Jun-2026. A first-order data point for the satellite-services thesis: the committed supplier development plan is 21.02% of the amount allocated to suppliers, goods and works, and the resolution validates it against the 20% floor of subsection l of article 47 of the annex to Decreto 749/2024 —the national RIGI regime—, not against the 70% of Salta's Ley 8164. It is concrete evidence that a RIGI project vehicle (VPU) is measured by the national 20% yardstick, which is less than a third of the provincial one.
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
We cross what you manufacture or do against the 2 phases of this project and tell you which ones you fit into and when each one buys. 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
Posco Argentina SAU SDE (dedicated special branch of Posco Argentina SAU), CUIT 30-71922048-3 verif Jul 31, 2026 ↗
The works, milestone by milestone
The Sal de Oro lithium carbonate plant (Plant II), of roughly 23,000 t/yr, is inaugurated with Karina Milei, Diego Santilli and governors Gustavo Sáenz and Raúl Jalil. Commercial operation starts with a gradual production ramp-up during 2027.
Salta, Catamarca and POSCO sign a memorandum of understanding to move ahead with Stages III and IV of Sal de Oro, with the goal of reaching 100,000 t per year of lithium products. It has no published amount or timeline.
At the inauguration, the national government and Salta publish that the project generated more than 5,000 jobs, including more than 600 direct jobs at POSCO Argentina, and that the company works with more than 270 local suppliers from Salta and other provinces.
Resolución 1157/2026 is published in the official gazette, approving accession to the RIGI with USD 207,936,427.20 in eligible assets and setting 31-Jul-2029 as the deadline to reach the minimum investment amount.
Civil and Commercial Court No. 2 orders the attachment of USD 357,763.20 of POSCO funds over the claim by the Salta contractor INVLAC Construcciones S.R.L. for the pumping station and pipeline of the project's aqueduct, whose contract POSCO terminated in April 2026.
RIGI accession date set by the resolution: 12 June 2026.
POSCO files the application now in force, « Sal de Oro II », through its special dedicated branch as the single-project vehicle. Two days later it withdraws the original « Sal de Oro » application, filed on 30-Oct-2024.
POSCO presents to Salta's Senate the construction figures for the carbonate plant as of May 2025: « 3.600 contratados, de los cuales un 54% son salteños » and « 70 proveedores, de los cuales 36 son de Salta »; in direct employment, « 431 trabajadores en relación de dependencia, de los cuales 302, es decir el 70%, son de Salta ».
What it leaves in Salta
jobs, works, taxes, promises and the outlook
How many jobs it creates
some 3,600 workers hired during the construction of the carbonate plant, 54 % of them from the province of Salta (the company was already reporting the same figure in May 2025) workers hired for the construction of Phase II (CP2) between 2025 and 2026, which is the phase that joined the RIGI; the document does not separate direct from indirect verif May 2025 ↗
431 permanent workers, of whom 302 —70 %— are from the province of Salta (a figure the company reported in May 2025 and the lender's summary repeated in 2026) direct employment reported as of May 2025; the document counts them for the project, not for a single plant verif May 2025 ↗
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
1.7 times all registered jobs in the department and 3.9 times its miners and construction workers estim Nov 2023
The works that stay behind
The infrastructure that stays standing once the works end, with its size and its source.
Technical-grade lithium carbonate plant, which is the work that joined the RIGI («Sal de Oro II»)
ProductiveThe Salta–Catamarca Cooperation Zone, in the northern basin of the Salar del Hombre Muerto: this is the plant that stays there operating, with environmental permits granted for twenty years and an expected operating life of thirty.
The lender's environmental and social review summary describes Phase II —«Sal de Oro II» or «CP2»— as the construction of a plant of approximately 23,000 tonnes per year of technical-grade lithium carbonate, located in the northern basin of the Salar del Hombre Muerto within the Cooperation Zone between Salta and Catamarca, with construction progress that as of May 2026 exceeded 98 %. It is run by a dedicated branch, «Posco Argentina SAU SDE», created so that this phase would be eligible for the RIGI. The plant was inaugurated on 6 October 2026, at a ceremony with the General Secretariat of the Presidency and the governors of Salta and Catamarca verif.
Lithium hydroxide plant in the General Güemes Industrial Park, the phase that is already operating
Productivetonnes per year of battery-grade lithium hydroxide, on 23 of the 61 hectares the company owns on the site; operating since November 2024
The General Güemes Industrial Park and the town of General Güemes, less than 6 km to the north on Route 34: this is heavy industry installed in an existing industrial park, not out on the salt flat, and the remaining 38 hectares of the site are held for expansion.
Phase I comprises a commercial-scale lithium phosphate plant on the salt flat — an intermediate product — and a plant that processes that intermediate into battery-grade lithium hydroxide, with an annual capacity of 25,000 tonnes, installed in the General Güemes Industrial Park on a company-owned site of roughly 61 hectares of which only 23 were used. It has been operating since November 2024. The owner itself specifies that this plant «is in the ramp-up stage»: it operates, but not yet at full capacity.
The two power facilities that do NOT yet have a permit: a liquefied natural gas regasification plant and a solar park
Powerplants, with no published capacity. What is measured is their status: as of July 2026 neither one has environmental authorization nor the provincial permits, resolutions or notifications needed to be built.
No one yet: this is the part of the project that has not started. For a supplier it is the most useful signal on the whole record, because it flags two power works that cannot be contracted until the permit is issued — and the permit has not even been applied for.
The lender records that the company filed the environmental and social impact studies for the project's main ancillary works — the power generation plant and a medium-voltage transmission line — but that «to date, Posco Argentina has not yet obtained environmental authorization for certain ancillary components (a liquefied natural gas regasification plant and a renewable solar power plant), nor has it obtained the necessary provincial permits, resolutions or notifications for their implementation».
- 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-2025-127271572- -APN-SCEYM#MEC verif Jul 31, 2026 ↗
Jun 12, 2026 verif Jul 31, 2026 ↗
The act’s articles, in detail
3 facts on the commitment
21,02 % of the amount earmarked for suppliers that goes to LOCAL suppliers verif Jul 31, 2026 ↗
The entire investment amount earmarked for paying suppliers, goods and infrastructure works, during the project's construction and operation stages verif Jul 31, 2026 ↗
Posco Argentina SAU SDE, tax ID 30-71922048-3, registered at RP 28 s/n, barrio La Almudena, block 937A, house 10, city of Salta. verif Jul 31, 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-01The permanent operating workforce of the carbonate plant+
The official release only quantifies construction («up to 1,000 jobs») and current employment in the first phase (1,600 people). A figure of some 620 permanent formal jobs at full capacity circulates, but it could not be opened in a source of its own.
H-02The permanent infrastructure the project leaves behind+
At least one piece of fixed infrastructure is identified — the aqueduct, with its pumping station and pipeline — but no source publishes its magnitude: not the kilometres of route, not the flow, not where it runs from and to. The permanent-works block requires a magnitude, so the item does not enter. Milicic's own project record on the ponds publishes no magnitudes either.
H-03How much the carbonate plant produces today and when it reaches its capacity+
The official notes on the inauguration say commercial operation begins with a gradual ramp-up during 2027, but they publish neither tonnes produced nor a month for reaching 23,000 t/yr.
H-04What the Stage III and IV memorandum commits to+
What has been published about the memorandum is its goal, 100,000 t per year of lithium products. The signed text is not published: it is not known whether it sets deadlines, amounts or local procurement obligations.
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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