"Lithium is and will be one of the most important materials in electrification"
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MINING PANORAMA AUGUST 27, 2021
An investment announcement of US $ 580 million and the generation of 1,300 direct jobs in the province of Salta, the acquisition of Pastos Grandes from Millennial Lithium and the advancement of the Cauchari-Olaroz project, which is about to start production in Jujuy, are some of the the milestones of the technological leader of Chinese origin Ganfeng Lithium, a company that exhibits a growing interest in lithium production in Argentina. From China, Xiaoshen Wang, Vice President of Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd, responded to the main questions raised by PANORAMA MINERO regarding its participation in the country and the expectations that fall on electromobility.
Xiaoshen Wang, Vice President of Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd.
The company has shown interest in advancing a diverse portfolio of lithium projects located in Argentina. What are Ganfeng's projections in the country and what are the recent acquisitions and movements due to?
Argentina has large lithium resources and the local government strongly supports the mining industry in terms of investment and infrastructure development. Therefore, we have continued to increase our investment in Argentina's local resources and have cooperated more closely with the Argentine government and companies to produce clean lithium battery materials.
Our expectation is to approach lithium extraction projects from salt flats in Argentina with the utmost respect for the environment: this is achieved by using the region's abundant solar energy as the main source of energy, recycling water and protecting ecological habitat. We also hope to help create more local jobs.
How much have you invested and how much will Ganfeng invest to launch your projects in Argentina?
In recent years we have invested approximately US $ 600 million in resource projects in Argentina.
In the future we will continue to increase investment and work with local partners to turn Argentina into a global lithium resource base.
How do you observe the global news related to electrification and the movements of the automobile companies? Can lithium be displaced by another input in the medium term?
First of all, the transformation towards electrification is an unstoppable trend. Not only electric vehicles, but also the battery system is very important in the use of clean energy.
Today, many automakers have published detailed electrical transformation plans with clear time goals. However, it is not an easy thing to do. For example, the tensions in the supply of raw materials such as
chips , the irresolution of the pandemic and the construction of basic equipment such as charging stations will affect the speed of this transformation. Therefore, it will be a very long process until electric vehicles completely replace fuel vehicles. Joint efforts by companies are required throughout our supply chain. At the same time, we must also thank Argentina and other countries with lithium resources for their contributions to this energy transition.
The development of battery technology is very rapid and there are certain uncertainties in the technical path of electrification in the future.
We believe that solid state batteries will replace traditional batteries in the future, but lithium is still one of the most important materials. Of course, we are not ruling out the prospects for sodium batteries and fuel cells. There may be certain application scenarios in the future, which will become a complement to lithium batteries.
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