Ganfeng Lithium Latin America is continuing to push the production frontier for lithium in Argentina’s high-altitude Puna region.
Together with Lithium Argentina, the company has officially submitted an application to join the Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI) for the Pozuelos–Pastos Grandes (PPG) project in the province of Salta.
It is the seventh lithium project to request entry into the RIGI framework, of which three have already been approved.
Pozuelos–Pastos Grandes: two projects in one
The project integrates two complementary technologies. On one hand, it uses solar evaporation in large ponds, a traditional and efficient method widely used in the region. On the other, it incorporates direct lithium extraction (DLE) technologies, which can shorten production timelines and reduce environmental impact.
This hybrid solution, backed by an investment of more than $3 billion in three phases, would allow the company to target annual production of more than 150,000 metric tons of lithium.
Strategic location in the Lithium Triangle
The project is operated by Lithea Inc. and has already received environmental approval for its first phase through the Environmental Impact Statement (DIA). It combines the Pastos Grandes and Pozuelos projects, which extend across the basins of the Salar de Pastos Grandes and the Salar de Pozuelos.
The site is located 13 kilometers south-southwest of the town of Santa Rosa de los Pastos Grandes, 56 km southwest of the city of San Antonio de los Cobres and 154 km northwest of the city of Salta, the provincial capital. The average altitude is 3,785 meters above sea level and the project covers more than 8,664 hectares of the Salar de Pastos Grandes.
Processing is expected to rely on proven technologies such as brine extraction, solar evaporation and conventional lithium brine processing. The Pastos Grandes project has an estimated mine life of 25 years, with a three-year ramp-up period and potential production of up to 25,000 tons per year.
The project already has its own camp, and plans include expanding both its production capacity and operational facilities. The Pozuelos and Pastos Grandes salars share the same local stratigraphy: the basins are separated in the northeast of Pozuelos by the Pozuelo and Geste geological formations.
Lithium-rich brines
Quaternary rocks appear as evaporite accumulations occupying the intermontane depression. The Pastos Grandes salt flats represent the present-day expression of a larger sedimentary basin known as Sijes, which has developed since the Miocene. It is composed of sandstones, clays, tuffs, evaporites and travertines.
The white-lilac formation represents an ancient salar larger than the current one and is considered a potential aquifer capable of storing lithium-rich brine. The Pastos Grandes salar is filled with unconsolidated clastic materials (clays and silts), organic matter and fine-grained sediments.
These sediments date to the Quaternary period and have an estimated thickness of about 30 meters. Exploration work has confirmed the presence of lithium-rich brine-bearing sediments.