Ring flexibility
The Ministry of Economy, in charge of Serge Massa, and the Ministry of Mining, headed by Fernanda Ávila, are currently seeking to finish outlining the decree that will be given to companies free access to the dollar for a percentage of its exports. Companies in the sector expect Massa to make the announcement on her first tour of the United States, which will take place next week, where she will visit mining giants such as Livent and Río Tinto.
The decree is very advanced: the draft states that companies will be able to freely access the dollar for between 10 and 25% of exports. In return, they will have to meet different requirements, ranging from reinvestment to extend the useful life of the projects, to adding value, through the implementation of development programs for local suppliers.
The measure seeks to be implemented in dialogue with the companies, grouped in the Chamber of Mining Entrepreneurs (Caem). Before the announcement, Economy wants to guarantee its operation. In the investment promotion regime that ex-minister Martín Guzmán brought out (decree 234), which gives benefits to companies that invest more than US$100 million, only one mining company entered. Another of the measures announced was the mobile retentions for copper, which companies can use on an optional basis: only one assured that it would do so.
The main business request is access to foreign currency, to pay for inputs and that production does not fall and therefore exports, also for the transfer of dividends, but above all for the repayment of international credits: An investment in copper such as Josemaría’s in San Juan can amount to US$5 billion.
YPF Lithium
The Government will announce in the coming weeks the implementation of YPF Lithium, an independent company owned by YPF. “In a process of energy transition, and with such an important resource at a geopolitical level, it is natural for the State to invest and intervene in this market,” an official source told Ambit. The company’s objective is to cover the entire lithium chain to advance in the “industrialization” of the mineral.
The exploration and exploitation part is where the greatest problems arise: the resource is provincial, and the majority of the salt flats are already concessioned to private companies. For this reason, associations will be sought with provincial mining companies to explore the land. The first step was the signing of an agreement between YPF and Camyen (Catamarca Minera Sociedad del Estado) for lithium exploration in Fiambalá, on the border with Chile, to identify the lithium content and the richest areas.
“If we solve this part, we have all the other stages on track,” said an official source. YPF Litio’s idea will also be to move forward with a lithium carbonate plant. The development strategy will be in “association” with private companies. The same with financing: a plant can cost around $400 million. “The problem does not go through credit, when you have the mineral, investors appear,” they said.
Finally, YPF Litio’s idea will be to have a battery plant. It will be the one that will be inaugurated in December in Berisso, province of Buenos Aires, in conjunction with Y-Tec, the technological business unit of YPF. Since there is no generic lithium market, the objective will be to focus on specific batteries, in a first stage for the domestic market, such as for buses or motorcycles.
From the time the company is launched until it is possible to think about producing and exporting, the term is at least 5 years, they estimate. However, they say that the time to start closing deals is now. “The political decision is there”, they affirmed. In addition, they analyze alliances at the international level, with the three countries that make up the lithium triangle, where the world’s largest lithium reserve is concentrated. They seek to “take advantage” of the harmony of the three center-left governments in Argentina, Chile, with Gabriel Boric, and Bolivia, with Luis Arce. “Why not think of a lithium Opec?”an official source wondered.
Source: Ambito
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