China's Ganfeng Lithium on Tuesday said its subsidiary had received approval to build a 20 000 t/y lithium plant for its Mariana project in northern Argentina, where it intends to use solar power.
Ganfeng, one of the world's top producers of lithium chemicals for electric-vehicle batteries, said its unit Litio Minera Argentina "recently obtained an Environmental Impact Report approval for the construction of a plant for the Mariana lithium salt lake project from Salta province".
The document approved a plant with capacity to produce 20 000 t/y of lithium chloride.
Lithium chloride, produced at lithium brine projects, can be used to make battery-grade lithium carbonate or lithium metal.
Ganfeng, which said last month it would use a 120-MW photovoltaic system to power the plant, had previously noted lithium at Mariana could be extracted through solar evaporation, reducing emissions and costs.