The new management of the Secretariat of Mining and Hydrocarbons, under the leadership of José Gómez, aims to add these two critical minerals to its mining offering. As the leading lithium producer in Argentina, Jujuy continues to show interest to investors.
By Panorama Minero
The new Secretary of Mining of Jujuy, Engineer José Gabriel Gómez, intends to continue the work of transparency, modernization, and digitalization. To this end, he detailed that they are digitizing procedures of the mining cadastre and plan to continue releasing areas to promote activity, with 200 Environmental Impact Assessment reports registered, 80% of which are for exploration. These projects include exploration for gold, copper, and rare earths among the 73 approved in 2023, in addition to lithium, which, with the start of production by Exar, positioned Jujuy as the country's leading lithium producer.
"We will continue working in the same line that Governor Morales had set in his early days with Miguel Soler. And Governor Carlos Sadir asked us to continue working in the same line of transparency, modernization, and digitalization," explained the former Mining Director of the province of Jujuy regarding the management guidelines that began in December. He also recalled that at the end of last year, they launched the digitization of mineral transit guides, so he confirmed that they propose to continue advancing along the same lines, improving controls as they had been doing, as well as the on-site presence regarding the activity.
The Mining Secretary of the province of Jujuy also pointed out that currently, the mining cadastre is "online" and constantly updated, so they continue working to release areas that have been stalled and inactive for many years, in order to continue promoting mining activity in all areas that Jujuy province has the potential to develop. At the end of last year, there were around 244 holders of mining claims, divided between prospecting and mine requests.
To put it into perspective, the mining authority explained that there are more than 200 Environmental Impact Assessment files in the Mining Directorate, which demonstrate the intention to continue working. "80% of these Environmental Impact Assessment reports are for exploration, and during 2023, 76 reports were approved; that generates a good outlook for these years of exploration," expressed Gómez. He also mentioned that there are a couple of exploration projects for gold, copper, and two or three rare earths projects that were approved towards the end of last year: "We estimate that this year they would already be starting with initial prospecting for rare earths, something that is very interesting."
Regarding lithium, Engineer Gómez pointed out that exploration tasks are currently being carried out in all the salars. In the case of the Jama salt flat, three companies are exploring, with their reports already approved. As for Cauchari-Olaroz, in addition to the work of the Sales de Jujuy and Exar projects, exploration tasks continue to validate reserves. "In Salinas Grandes we are just trying to release some areas, some small zones for exploration, to find out if there is potential or not," he affirmed.
On the other hand, Engineer Gómez considered that the renewal of mining authorities and the national government has generated a renewed interest from foreign companies interested in coming to Argentina and, above all, investing in Jujuy.
The current panorama and the interest of the European Union in Argentina
Regarding the current panorama of active metallic projects in Jujuy, Gómez detailed: "We have a small-scale copper mining operation. We also have the Chinchillas and Pirquitas mines, which, although they are already in their last years of production, continue to explore to analyze the possibility of extending the mine life. This is the same situation with Mina Aguilar, which continues with its production." In relation to lithium, he added: "We can affirm that 2023 ended with Jujuy positioned as the first lithium-producing province, thanks to the expansion of production capacity by Sales de Jujuy, as well as what was produced by Exar."
Regarding the recent visit to Germany made by the Jujuy delegation led by Governor Carlos Sadir, along with other mining provinces, he explained: "The European Union is very interested in critical minerals, including copper and lithium. We were discussing and analyzing with several companies with intentions, not to come and develop a mining operation, but rather to partner and work with companies already established to further industrialize lithium in this region."
On the other hand, Gómez pointed out that, in terms of progress, in March 2023 the Regulatory Decree 7751 of mining activity was updated, with higher standards regarding environmental and social issues. This is a more demanding environmental regulation that was worked on for over two years to reform Regulatory Decree 5772, considered very good, but with the intention of improving it because new technologies are being added, allowing for even more optimization of controls and exploitation technology.
Regarding the request of the Lithium Board -composed of the provinces of Salta, Catamarca, and Jujuy-, where it had been expressed the interest for a greater margin of participation in relation to the profits obtained considering the price of lithium, the mining authority explained that it was addressed during the trip to Germany and is expected to continue being discussed.
