Journalist: How does the sale of Arcadium Lithium impact Rio Tinto?
Luis Lucero: Arcadium is a company dedicated primarily to lithium, if not exclusively lithium, while Rio Tinto is a diversified company. They always have a strategic focus, but basically it is a diversified company that has a portfolio of projects involving many minerals. So, the reading is that even though today we are in a price valley, we are in a cycle of low prices due to a series of factors in lithium, that a company of the magnitude of Río Tinto appears, one of the main five for sure. in the world, perhaps one of the three largest, buying a niche company, a litiera, what one has to read from there is that whoever has a long-term view expects a price increase, and sees that lithium is not something that is going to disappear, this decline is not the end of the world.
Journalist: Do you believe in a quick recovery in the price of lithium?
LL: Lithium is going to recover, it will probably not reach the $80,000 per ton it cost, but it will stabilize, although at a much lower price.
Journalist: That is, consider that the sale of Arcadium anticipates better prices…
LL: The sale leaves two lessons. One, the price is going to improve, and two, it is going to remain a business for a long time. Reading an entry from a very large company, multi-target so to speak, buying a niche lithium company, is an indication of how they – who know the market very well – see the future market.
Journalist: If I add the recent acquisition of copper projects in San Juan by BHP, what do you think the international mining sector is looking at about Argentina?
LL: They are two great players. But we don’t have to believe that Rio Tinto bought Arcadium for Argentina. Rio Tinto bought Arcadium for lithium, which transcends Argentina. Arcadium has operations in Australia, and many other countries. The purchase includes Argentina, but there are other things too. Now, BHP is another very large company, with a reputation and very high environmental and sustainability standards, which is becoming stronger in Argentina. That is good news for the sector.
Journalist: Do you see it as small votes of confidence in the country, in the projects that the country has?
LL: They are votes of confidence in the country. Weeks ago we were in London. It was a historic mission because there were six provincial governments, plus the Nation. We were two secretaries of the Ministry of Economy. We work side by side with six provinces and the interest of the investing world. They include the interest of Río Tinto, which is very, very marked.
Journalist: How much did RIGI contribute to this wave of important sales?
LL: The RIGI contributes a lot, it is what they tell us, it is what transcends, what they let us know. The RIGI is important, they expressly tell us, it was important. Because it was a factor that ended up deciding, and in some cases it ended up being a decisive factor. Many things are going well, if you add the RIGI the account ends up being positive and then the investor goes ahead and comes to Argentina.
Jujuy Lithium Seminar 2024 Mining Panorama
Journalist: Many analysts of the national mining sector warn that there is a lack of more training and exploration, do you agree?
LL: We need exploration because we still have a huge amount of our territory to do it, it can be 50%, 60%. We have to continue exploring. We have to explore in Patagonia. The gold and silver deposits are being exhausted, and Patagonia is very rich in gold, silver and uranium. You have to explore in Cuyo, in Los Andes too, you have to explore everywhere. Normally it is very rare in geology for there to be an isolated phenomenon. That is to say, if you had a good mine, a good operation in a place, I say it in very simple terms so that it is understood, there has to be something around it. That’s why companies never stop exploring. The operating mining company is exploring around its deposit all the time.
Journalist: And about the lack of training and labor for all the upcoming projects, what can be done?
LL: Yeah All the mining projects, the large copper ones and even the lithium ones, are launched today, a lot of trained labor is needed. And it’s been decades since people were not trained. We have to instruct kids to work in mining, we have to train them, because there is extraordinary development potential there.
Source: Ambito
