Overview
- Provincial leaders said at the 15th Litio en Sudamérica seminar in San Salvador de Jujuy on Wednesday that the Mesa del Litio has defined five workstreams to shift from meetings to concrete results and is now focused on implementation with multilateral partners.
- The Mesa is working with the World Bank and the Inter‑American Development Bank to produce a regional long‑term roadmap and a project pipeline meant to plan energy, water, gas, and transport needs for the sector.
- Officials and companies announced specific project moves: an agreement with Rio Tinto to optimize the Olaroz plant and a Cauchari pilot slated for 2027, Exar progressing under a RIGI incentive toward direct‑extraction pilots, and CNGR cleared to add roughly 24,000 tonnes after EIA approval.
- National projections presented at the event show rapid capacity growth, rising from about 80,000 tonnes in 2023 to a projected 275,000 tonnes for 2026 and official scenarios targeting over 500,000 tonnes by 2030 and roughly 650,000 tonnes by 2035.
- The Mesa is prioritizing tools to lock benefits locally by funding and certifying suppliers, aligning regulations with IGF and CFI help, expanding training programs, and setting measurable outcomes to prove jobs and community gains once the roadmap is delivered by late 2026 or early 2027.