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Argentina

Sal de Vida (Stage 1) Project

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Australia

Sal de Vida (Stage 1) Project

Location: 165 km SW from Salta, Argentina

Project Contacts:

Junín esq. Prado - PA
Catamarca
Argentina
4700

Contacts:

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Categories

Summary

Mine TypeIn-Situ
Study CompletedPrefeasibility
StageConstruction
Commodities
  • Lithium
Mining Method
  • Brine mining
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Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotSal de Vida is a globally competitive project with high-quality brine chemistry that is within 10 kilometers of the Fénix operations.

Sal de Vida currently has a two-stage execution plan.

Sal de Vida Stage 1 is currently under construction. The Project further plans a modular 30,000 tpa expansion (Sal de Vida Stage 2) which is still in the pre-feasibility study phase. The Project aims to produce 45,000 tpa in total from the planned staged expansions.
Latest NewsRio Tinto confirmed as preferred partner on world-class Salares Altoandinos lithium project     May 23, 2025

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Rio Tinto plc 100 % Indirect
Galaxy Lithium (Sal de Vida) S.A. (operator) 100 % Direct
The Sal de Vida project is held by Galaxy Lithium (Sal de Vida) S.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of Galaxy Resources Ltd. (Australia) which in turn is 100% owned by Arcadium Lithium plc.

March 06, 2025 - Rio Tinto has completed its acquisition of Arcadium Lithium plc (“Arcadium Lithium”) (NYSE: ALTM) (ASX: LTM) for $6.7 billion, following the sanctioning of the Scheme of Arrangement by the Royal Court of Jersey on 5 March. Rio Tinto is now the ultimate parent company of Arcadium Lithium, which will become Rio Tinto Lithium.

Contractors

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SourceSource

Deposit type

  • Brine
  • Evaporite

Summary:

The deposit type is a brine aquifer within a salar basin. The extent of the active model resources covers an area of 146 km2 for Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources plus an area of 14.9 km2 for Inferred Mineral Resources, with a total of 160.9 km2.

In basin areas, the watersheds are within the basins; there are no outlets from the basins. Ongoing runoff, both surface and underground, continued solute dissolution from the basins and concentration in their centres where evaporation is the only outlet. Evaporite minerals occur both as disseminations within a clastic sequence and as discrete beds.

The Salar system in the Hombre Muerto basin is considered a typical mature salar. The Hombre Muerto basin has an evaporite core that is dominated by halite. Basin margins are steep and are interpreted to be fault-controlled. The east basin margin is predominantly Pre-Cambrian metamorphic and crystalline rocks belonging to Pachamama formation. Volcanic tuff and reworked tuffaceous sediments, most likely from Cerro Galan complex, together with tilted Tertiary rocks, are common along the western and northern basin margins. In the Sal de Vida Project area, the dip angle of Tertiary sandstone is commonly about 45º to the southeast. Porous travertine and associated calcareous sediments are common in the subsurface throughout the basin and are flat-lying; these sediments appear to form a marker unit that is encountered in most core holes at similar altitudes. Several exploration boreholes located near basin margins completely penetrated the flat-lying basin-fill deposits, and have bottoms in tilted Tertiary sandstone, volcanic tuff, and micaceous schist.

Sal de Vida’s brine chemistry has a high lithium grade, low levels of magnesium, calcium and boron impurities and readily upgrades to battery-grade lithium carbonate. Dense brine was observed as the interstitial fluid at all depths in the basin, typically increasing brine density with depth. In addition, although there is no borehole data currently to support this, it is anticipated that dense brine will also be located in the lower parts of the older rock units that form the margins of the basin.

Long-term hydrological pump testing under operating conditions has demonstrated excellent brine extraction rates to support the production design basis.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Required Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

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Commodity Production

The only product planned for sale from SDV is lithium carbonate, expected to be 80% battery grade and 20% of technical grade. Piloting indicates that a distribution of 95% battery grade and 5% technical grade will be achievable, allowing flexibility to adapt to market demands.
CommodityUnitsAvg. AnnualLOM
Lithium t 15,000582,719
All production numbers are expressed as carbonate.

Operational metrics

Metrics
Annual production capacity  ....  Subscribe
Brine extraction, LOM  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2023 study.

Production Costs

CommodityUnitsAverage
Site cash costs (produced) Li2CO3 USD  ....  Subscribe
Cash costs Li2CO3 USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Li2CO3 USD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2023 study / presentation.

Project Costs

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Initial CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Sustaining CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Closure costs $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Total CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
G&A costs $M USD 446
Total OpEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Total Taxes $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Gross revenue (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscribe
EBITDA (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax NPV @ 10% $M USD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax NPV @ 10% $M USD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax NPV @ 8% $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe
After-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe
After-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscribe

Personnel

Mine Management

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Workforce

Total WorkforceYear
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Aerial view:

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