Lithium is a key raw material for electric vehicle batteries and is known as "white oil." The global transition to clean energy has significantly boosted lithium demand and sparked a lithium mining boom.

Argentina is currently the fourth largest lithium-producing country in the world, behind Australia, Chile, and China. The country aims to climb to become the world's third largest lithium producer. Given Argentina's steadily increasing position in the lithium production field, this goal is not unrealistic.

The Argentina Chamber of Mining Entrepreneurs (CAEM) reported on Tuesday that under the promotion of new projects, the production capacity of Argentina's lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) has doubled in the past two years.

According to the association, Argentina's LCE production capacity has increased significantly from 0.0375 million tons in 2022 to 0.1365 million tons.

Argentina currently has four lithium mine projects in operation or about to start production, including the Centenario Ratones plant in the province of Salta, a joint venture between France's largest mining group Eramet and Tsingshan of China.

The Centenario Ratones plant started production earlier this month with a target of producing 0.024 million tons of LCE per year by 2025.

The operation of this plant will help narrow the gap between Argentina and neighboring Chile, the largest lithium-producing country in Latin America. Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia are known as the "lithium triangle" of South America, with these three countries accounting for more than half of the world's lithium resources.

In addition to Centenario Ratones, the other three projects are Zijin Mining's Tres Quebradas, Ganfeng Lithium's Mariana, and South Korean steel giant POSCO's Sal de Oro.

Before the release of the aforementioned report, a government report in early July showed that Argentina's total lithium production is expected to double in the coming months as new projects enter production stage.