Li-related News/Articles/Reports, page-7843

Great video.

Some quotes/snips (rough so DYOTranslation)

Francisco Alurralde:
“We handle 100% of the management [of Puna mining]”
“Pablo has been a professor at UNSA for 40 years”
“He is linked and committed to education in Salta”


Host:
“Pablo was my professor at university”
“Later we were colleagues at FMC”
“How complex is it to run a project from scratch?”

Francisco:
“It’s super complex”
“A lot of sacrifice and uncertainty”
“The lithium industry is a very small and new industry”
“There is (was?) no/little experience in the province”
“There is political support but inexperience on the political side that hinders taking it from zero to something super complex”
“97% of Puna Mining, out of 210 (personnel) are from Salta”
“As the activity progresses, more professionals are needed”

Host:
“What is the project like?” Processes?

Francisco:
“Today we are producing 99.88% carbonate”
“The first stage was a pilot plant… to test the technology …. We produced let’s say 50t of carbonate… we sent it to Asia to corroborate the product … that allowed us to grow to the second stage - a plant at the salar - for a continuous process - 2000t per year”
“Moving from batch to continuous production is the great challenge”
“We are already in the expansion phase - trying to close an agreement to grow to 12000t”
“We have the approvals now and that allows us to raise the capital to make that growth”
“Construction of the expansion is estimated to take 18 months”
“The project takes an investment of $250M”

regarding permitting time:
“It’s spectacular”
“We were working with the secretary for a year and a half, coming with observations (responses/clarifications) etc”
“Another year and a half waiting because… the secretary, just as the sector has grown…they had difficulties with resources… there was a lot of turnover… they are growing and learning… and lacking resources.

regarding other issues:
“People abroad are not used to the uncertainty and ups and downs etc as we are here”
“Changes and lack of predictability has caused delays …. Also an issue with inexperience as the sector in the province moves from exploration to production … that slows things a little”



… lots of other points I missed, including plenty of talk about social responsibility, training, education, etc - they seem very involved with local communities and committed to making positive local change as part of this project. Great.


Note: some “quotes” paraphrased, DYOR