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/year 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 section 47(l) 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 is measured by the national 20% yardstick, which is less than a third of the provincial one.
The projectwhat 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 / POSCO Holdings, South Korean group), CUIT 30-71922048-3 verif Jul 31, 2026 ↗
The works, milestone by milestone
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 the complex's figures to Salta's Senate: « 3.600 contratados, de los cuales un 54% son salteños », « 431 trabajadores en relacion de dependencia, de los cuales 302, es decir el 70%, son de Salta » and « 70 proveedores, de los cuales 36 son de Salta ».
Who already has a contract
Verbatim from the contractor's own project record: « Movimientos de suelos necesarios para la ejecucion de las piletas que forman parte de la etapa comercial del Proyecto Sal de Oro », client « Posco Argentina S.A.U. ». ⚠️ It does NOT qualify as a Salta local supplier: art. 16 of Ley 8164 requires registered or corporate and tax domicile in Salta and 51% of the capital in the hands of Salta partners, and its head office is in Rosario. Its contract does not count towards the miner's local-content target.
It carried out the work and the contract ended in court: POSCO terminated it in April 2026 alleging abandonment and without an agreed final settlement, and Civil and Commercial Court No. 2 ordered an attachment of USD 357,763.20 against POSCO funds — USD 298,136 of principal plus USD 59,627.20 of provisional interest and costs — which also bars POSCO from calling « seguros de garantia, avales bancarios u otras cauciones » while the case runs. The contractor attributes the delays to causes outside its control: logistical difficulties, lack of housing for the workers, material delays and changes of scope ordered by POSCO.
How to supply itwhere to register, what they ask for and what they will buy
How to become a supplier
Posco Argentina SAU SDE, tax ID 30-71922048-3, address at RP 28 s/n, barrio La Almudena, block 937A, house 10, city of Salta. ⭐ Here there is a split: it is a special dedicated branch created for the RIGI, separate from Posco Argentina SAU, and its address is in Salta.
The operator, with its address in the city of Salta and its hydroxide plant in the General Güemes industrial park. There is no procurement agreement with the province like Rio Tinto's: what is known about the split comes from what the company itself presented to the provincial Senate. ⚠️ And the works have a precedent of a payment dispute with a Salta contractor: see `contratistas[]`.
The registration routes that exist today, with their status. The one that is up and running is not always the official one.
RPPLEM — Salta Provincial Registry of Local Suppliers to Mining Companies
up and running todayThis is the registry created by art. 15 of Ley 8164 and the only one the law recognises. It is up and running and its roll is public: as of 31-Jul-2026 it listed 500 suppliers with approved applications, showing tax ID, legal name, registration date, chamber membership and line of business.
Go to the single windowabrirCAPEMISA — Salta Chamber of Mining Suppliers and Entrepreneurs
up and running todayThe chamber is the body the provincial government placed inside the registration process and the one that convenes the matchmaking rounds with the operators; its president said in April 2026 that he had « tres o cuatro reuniones mas como esta para el resto del año con otras mineras » planned.
Go to the single windowabrirWhat they ask you for
Qualify as a local supplier under art. 16 of Ley 8164, which requires four things at once: registered or corporate AND tax domicile in Salta; at least 80% of the payroll living in the province; for a company, 51% or more of the capital held by partners domiciled in Salta; and for a joint venture, a Salta partner with a minimum 30% stake. verif Oct 22, 2019 ↗Verbatim from art. 16: a local supplier must « constituir y mantener domicilio real o social y fiscal en la Provincia de Salta »; have « al menos el 80% de su nomina de trabajadores » living in Salta; if a legal entity, be registered in Salta with « el 51% o mas de su composicion societaria » held by partners domiciled in the province; and if a joint venture, a Salta partner with a minimum 30% stake.
Be registered in the Provincial Registry of Local Suppliers to Mining Companies (RPPLEM) and keep the certificate current: it expires two years after issue. verif Jul 31, 2026 ↗The registry is created by « la Ley N° 8164, en su artículo 15 », is free and public, is run by the Secretaría de Minería y Energía (Av. Bolivia 4650 PB, Salta), and the certificate runs for « dos años contados desde que se emitió ».
The specialised professionals and technicians the supplier puts on the job must be licensed by the province's own professional association. verif Oct 22, 2019 ↗A requirement of art. 16 of Ley 8164, read in the text published in the provincial official gazette: specialised professionals and technicians must be licensed by the corresponding provincial association.
Be on the roll on inspection day, not on an annual filing: enforcement cross-checks the list of suppliers present AT THE MINE against the Registry, on the spot. prob Aug 28, 2025 ↗Verbatim from the official release of 28-Aug-2025: « las empresas mineras deben brindar en mina, al momento de la inspeccion, la nomina de todos los proveedores », cross-checked « con el Registro de Proveedores Mineros ». The same measure gives CAPEMISA the power to « formular observaciones en el procedimiento » of registration.
Know which side of the salt flat you invoice from: the project sits on the Salta/Catamarca border strip and each province has its own registry and its own definition of a local supplier, and one does not validate the other. verif Jul 31, 2026 ↗Resolución 1157/2026 assigns no province — it is a federal act — but it confirms that the single-project vehicle's registered address is in the city of Salta and that the project sits on the Salta/Catamarca border area of the Salar del Hombre Muerto.
The order you get in by
Register with the RPPLEM at the Secretaría de Minería y Energía. It is free and public, and without a current certificate the purchase does not count towards the miner's local-content target. the certificate expires two years after issue
If the ownership structure falls short of 51% Salta-held, form a joint venture with a local partner: art. 16 accepts a joint venture with a Salta partner holding at least 30%.
Join CAPEMISA or ask to be included in its matchmaking rounds: it is the chamber the provincial government placed inside the process, and the one that convenes the meetings with the operators.
What it will buy, and when
The 23,000 t/yr carbonate plant declares operation from Jul 1, 2026, alongside the hydroxide plant POSCO already inaugurated at General Güemes: the live market is not construction but operation —reagents, spares, plant services and logistics between the salar and Güemes—, and that one is within reach for a Salta supplier.
Construction of the plant ran between July 2024 and July 2026 according to what was declared: the phase that bought assembly work has already closed, so a construction proposal arrives late and a recurring supply proposal arrives on time.
Each phase buys different things at different times. The links lead to the matching market or trade.
Construction of the lithium carbonate plant (23,000 t/yr)
under wayVerbatim from the act: «estimating the start of the construction stage for July 10, 2024 and the start of operation for July 1, 2026». ⚠️ The declared start-up date has already passed and the resolution was published AFTER it (Jul 31, 2026), but the act does not confirm the plant is operating: the phase stays open until there is a source for the start-up. Investment plan: USD 90,916,876 in the first year and USD 7,083,124 in the second, with a Jul 31, 2029 deadline.
They are not buying any of this today. Open the phase to see the detail and arrive qualified the day it goes to tender.
Operationfrom Jul 1, 2026 as declarednot started15 ítems+
Start of operation declared in the act. Confirmation of the actual start-up is missing.
What it will need and has no supplier for yet
Construction and assembly of a lithium carbonate plant in the salt flat
mediumAdding a carbonate line (~23,000 t/year) to the existing operation concentrates civil-works and high-altitude electromechanical assembly capex.
Logistics and chemical inputs (soda ash, lime) for the NOA lithium corridor
mediumCarbonate chemistry demands reagents and outbound logistics towards ports; it adds to the demand of the Hombre Muerto corridor.
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.
Analyze my companyWhat it leaves in Saltajobs, 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 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 Jul 1, 2026 ↗
431 permanent workers, of whom 302 — 70% — are from the province of Salta permanent jobs at the close of Phase II construction; the document counts them for the project as a whole, not for a single plant verif Jul 1, 2026 ↗
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.
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 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-2025-127271572- -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 2 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.
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