Name of the Mine
Olaroz mine.

Location  
About 3 900 m above sea level, in the Jujuy province of northern Argentina.

Mine Owner/s  
Allkem holds 66.5% of the Olaroz project joint venture company, Sales de Jujuy, with the remaining project ownership held by Toyota Tsusho (25%) and the Jujuy provincial government mining investment company (8.5%).

Brief Description  
Olaroz is an established lithium brine evaporation and processing operation, with extensive infrastructure and facilities that are being supplemented for the expansion of the project’s wellfield, evaporation ponds and process plant.

Brief History  
Olaroz has been producing high-grade lithium carbonate since 2014. The first lithium carbonate was sold in late April 2015.

Primary Metals/Minerals  
Technical lithium carbonate and battery-grade lithium carbonate (>99.5% lithium carbonate) are produced at the facility and sold to about 100 customers in Asia, Europe and North America.

Secondary Metals/Minerals  
Not stated.

Geology/Mineralisation  
The Olaroz salar is located in the elevated Altiplano-Puna plateau of the Central Andes. The Puna plateau of north-western Argentina comprises a series of dominantly north-north-west- to north-north-east-trending reverse fault-bounded ranges of up to 5 000-m- to 6000-m-high, with intervening internally drained basins with an average elevation of 3 700 m.

Reserves  
Not stated.

Resources  
Total mineral resources as at April 2022 were estimated at 16.2-million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent, capable of sustaining current production for more than 40 years, with only about 15% of the defined resource extracted.

Type of Mine
Borefields.

Mining Method  
Lithium-bearing brine hosted in pore spaces within sediments in the salar is extracted by pumping using a series of production wells to pump brine to evaporation ponds for concentration of the brine.

Major Infrastructure/Equipment  
The project includes evaporation ponds, which are being expanded to the south of the operation; a liming plant, with additional liming facilities under construction; northern and southern brine wellfields being supplemented by the installation of new wells between the existing wellfields; freshwater production wells located south-east of the Olaroz project area and reverse osmosis plant on site for high-quality water production; a gas-fuelled power generation plant; a boiler room for steam generation; a lithium processing plant, soda ash storage area, lithium carbonate bagging area and assorted storage areas for reagents and supplies; a laboratory, warehouses, refuelling and equipment workshop areas; offices and control facilities; dining rooms, and sports and recreation facilities; and a gate house, weighbridge, security facility and transport control.

Prospects  
Expansion of the brine-based lithium facility is positioning Olaroz as one of the world’s biggest lithium evaporation pond systems.

Contact Details
Allkem
Tel +61 7 3064 3600
Email info@allkem.co

Sources
Allkem. Website: https://www.allkem.co/
Allkem. Olaroz Resource Update (April 2022).