Salar Tres Quebradas (3Q), stage 2 — lithium carbonate (LIEX/Zijin)
Tres Quebradas stage 2: plant and infrastructure for 40,000 t/year of lithium carbonate via direct extraction (DLE), per art. 1 of Resolución 1153/2026 (all stages combined target 60,000-80,000 tpa, projected). Mine life >19 years. The official announcement of July 2026 projected ~4,406 jobs across construction and operation and exports of ~USD 400 M/yr: the act records neither figure. Third Catamarca lithium project in the regime.
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
Liex S.A. Sucursal Dedicada, CUIT 30-71929244-1; according to the press, a subsidiary of China's Zijin Mining group verif Jul 29, 2026 ↗
The works, milestone by milestone
Resolución 1153/2026 of the Ministry of Economy is published, approving the adhesion: USD 594,136,000 in computable assets, a 40,000 t/yr plant using direct extraction, a 30-Nov-2027 deadline for the minimum investment, and 60.26% of the amount earmarked for suppliers committed to local suppliers.
The second stage's RIGI adhesion date, fixed by article 2 of the resolution that approved it.
LIEX S.A. signs with POWERCHINA the project's power supply system: a photovoltaic park with more than 7 MW of storage for the salt flat and Fiambalá sites.
What it leaves in Catamarca
jobs, works, taxes, promises and the outlook
The place where it is built
Tinogasta, Catamarca, before the RIGI: the official snapshot of November 2023, counting the people who live there.
5,691 jobs in November 2023, 65% of them in public administration verif Nov 2023 ↗
887 jobs: 325 in mining and 562 in construction verif Nov 2023 ↗
from 44 to 325 jobs verif Nov 2023 ↗
8 in 2022 verif 2022 ↗
2.1 times estim Nov 2023
The works that stay behind
The infrastructure that stays standing once the works end, with its size and its source.
132 kV high-voltage line between Tinogasta and Fiambalá
Powerof line, upgrading of the Tinogasta transformer station and two 60 MVA transformers in Fiambalá, financed by Zijin Liex
Fiambalá and Tinogasta. The line is paid for by the miner but stays in the provincial grid: it improves household supply and enables the growth of tourism, mining and agro-industry in the area. It was a long-standing demand of the community.
«Una inversión adicional de US$20 millones por parte de Zijin Liex», with «un tendido de 50 kilómetros, cuya finalización está prevista para los próximos meses», as of 27-Jan-2026. ⚠️ There is a second figure for the same work: Panorama Minero, on 15-Sep-2025, describes it as «una línea eléctrica de US$22 millones que beneficiará a todo Fiambalá». Both are published with their date; they are neither averaged nor resolved in favour of the higher one.
- 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-2026-14906968- -APN-SCEYM#MEC verif Jul 29, 2026 ↗
Jul 3, 2026 verif Jul 27, 2026 ↗
The act’s articles, in detail
5 facts on the commitment
60,26 % of the amount earmarked for suppliers that goes to LOCAL suppliers verif Jul 29, 2026 ↗
The entire investment amount earmarked for paying suppliers, goods and infrastructure works, during that project's construction and operation stages verif Jul 29, 2026 ↗
30 November 2027 to complete the minimum investment amount (art. 4). verif Nov 30, 2027 ↗
594136000 USD verif Jul 29, 2026 ↗
Liex S.A. Sucursal Dedicada, tax ID 30-71929244-1, registered at San Martín 280, San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca. verif Jul 29, 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 split between construction and operation of the 4,406 jobs attributed to the project+
The figure in circulation —4,406 direct and indirect jobs— is a single sum of both stages and both kinds of employment, calculated by the Ministry of Economy when it approved the admission. Resolución 1153/2026 carries no employment figure.
H-02Which stage of the project the second batch of halite ponds under execution belongs to+
The contractor publishes the work —200 hectares, 8 months, under execution— with client LIEX S.A. and a location on the salt flat, but its project sheet carries no date and does not name the stage. And there are two possible destinations: the 2nd stage that adhered to the RIGI, or the technical upgrade of the 1st stage that Zijin itself says takes it from 20,000 to 30,000 t/yr. This is the measured trap of this front: there is physical work near the project and it may not be the project's. That is why the `estado_obra` field remains at «sin evidencia pública».
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.
Open the report ↗A real analysis · a real company, open in full →
- 20+ years in technology, 15 of them in data and AI, for clients across Europe and the Americas
- Certified in AI governance (ISO/IEC 42001)
- Machine Learning (Google Cloud)
- Registered expert with the European Commission