Here is a translation of part of an article in El Tribuno...

Here is a translation of part of an article in El Tribuno concerning Salta lithium situation:
The consequences of the drop in the international price of lithium are already known in Salta: suspension of mining exploration projects, fall in private employment and halving in the activity of suppliers, among the main ones. All this began to be recorded with greater intensity since the middle of last year. Despite this, although it is paradoxical, in 2024 and so far this year, the lithium industry in the province was consolidated, due to the productive start-up of three plants. In addition, another one will be started and mega-investments were confirmed to expand some of these projects.The local panorama around lithium can be summarised in that the market has narrowed, there are fewer companies in the sector (junior mining, exploration), and the large mining companies are strongly committed to the recovery of the drop in the values of this fundamental mineral for the energy transition. The question is, then, when will that rebound occur?"The fall in the price is a fact of reality. It has a lot to do with the price volatility that this type of market has, but today there is no expected short-term date for the price of lithium to improve," explained the executive secretary of the Lithium Board, Flavia Royón in a recent interview with Radio Salta.He estimated that "it is possible" that in 3 or 4 years the lithium market will be readorable.The brand new president of South America for Ganfeng Lithium, Jason Luo, coincided with that scenario in dialogue with the specialised media Panorama Minero."The price of lithium is at a f*ing low and will gradually recover. We don't know when and how much," said the manager of the Chinese mining company, who in Salta is in charge of one of the plants that is already producing lithium, with the Mariana project."If we look at the supply side at this precise moment some projects that were planned to move forward have been delayed or slowed down and we also observed some reduction in production worldwide," he added.The vision of this company, which also has the Cauchari project in Jujuy and others in feasibility phases, is to continue with the investments."The price will recover significantly because still on the demand side we see the increase of double digits per year and we also see that energy storage is another rapidly growing market. That's why we think the price will be above US$20,000," said Ganfeng's president.