Location: Argentina

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Lithium Situation

DEM intends to become one of the world leaders in the e-materials and e-mobility sector riding the wave of the electric mobility super-cycle that has just begun.

This cycle is being driven by a multitude of innovations in the aerospace, defense, health- care, automotive and consumer electronics sectors (battery-powered vehicles of all kinds, such as cars, trucks, drones, ships, trains, air- crafts, motorcycles, e-bikes, photovoltaics and energy storage systems). Suppliers, refiners and battery factories (also known as giga- factories) are being built on an unprecedented scale around the world, with no technology shift in sight.

On closer inspection, the required strategic and critical raw materials (e.g. lithium, cobalt, rare earths, manganese, copper and graphite) are nowhere near close to being available in sufficient quantities. This enormous shortage is already leading to distribution struggles between industrialized nations, and of course to significantly increasing prices and valuations of projects. The lack of these raw materials has significant consequences for a country’s economy and national security.

As an example, the European demand for Lithium (battery material) will increase by about 3500 – 4000 % by 2050. A similar development can be expected for rare earth elements (electric drives), especially since more than 60 % of the demand is already covered by China.

  • Lithium prices are currently at record highs
  • Strong demand growth over the next 10 years for lithium with the increase in electric car sales
  • Main global producers are Argentina, Australia, Chile and China
  • DEM plans to consolidate one of the Top 10 lithium resources worldwide, through its Joint Venture LMC (Lithium Mining Corporation). LMC already holds a large portfolio of licenses (over 70,000 hectares) located within the Lithium Triangle of Argentina (Carachi Blanco-Project).

Top 5 lithium mining companies in the world

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Major projects: The company has invested in the equity of Bacanora Lithium PLC and acquired a 22.5% project interest in Sonora Lithium, a lithium clay project based in Sonora, Mexico. read more

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Major projects: The company owns lithium brine operations in Clayton Valley, near Silver Peak, US and the Salar de Atacama, Chile. It owns a 49% stake in the massive, hard-rock Greenbushes mine.

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Major projects: Tianqi paid $209.6m for a 2.1% stake in SQM in September 2016, which it then boosted to 23.77%, for $4.07bn, in 2018. The company has also developed a lithium hydroxide plant in the Kwinana Industrial Area, located south of Perth in Western Australia.

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Major projects: The company produces lithium carbonate in its Salar del Carmen plant, close to Antofagasta, Chile. In 2016, SQM and Lithium Americas announced they would develop the Cauchari-Olaroz lithium project in Argentina via a joint venture.

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Major projects: The company owns 100% of the world’s largest, independent hard-rock lithium operation, located in Western Australia

LMC Lithium licenses in the LITHIUM TRIANGLE:

  • Total: 70,000 ha LMC licenses
  • DEM is expecting up to 6 million tons of lithium
  • Situated near the town of Antofagasta de la Sierra and around the village El Peñon.
  • 562 km from province capital San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca.
  • 960 km from Copiapó (Chile, 15 h).
  • Antofagasta Lithium District is located in the heart of the Lithium Triangle of Argentina.
  • Situated next to the Galan Volcano which is considered to be the source of lithium for all salars in the region.
  • Promising magnetotelluric profiles from nearby resources with high Lithium concentrations at the main target depth between 200 and 350 m and a potential depth of 700 m.
  • Low mining costs compared to lithium sourced from hard rock ore as only wells and evaporation ponds are required to mine lithium- containing brines.
  • The remaining saline solution can be sold or further processed to produce suitable lithium.
  • No drinking water is consumed for the actual lithium production.
Antofagasta de la Sierra

Located at 3233 m high 

The capital of the Antofagasta district provides critical infrastructure for the Lithium project with good roads, new airport and transmission lines.

Accessed by the fully paved provincial route 43

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El Peñon​

600 inhabitants

Located 40 km south of Antofagasta de la Sierra.

Basic infrastructure including a domestic water system and diesel generated 220 volt power.

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Note: May include territories, special administrative regions, provinces and autonomous regions. f = Fitch Solutions forecast. Source: Fitch Solutions

Deutsche E Metalle AG on the road….

Conducting a geophysics and drilling program in the Argentinian winter is never easy!!!
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Mining and Investment

“In Argentina, one of the biggest of Latin American economies endowed with one of the largest territories in the world, the mining sector is identified among the most promising for businesses” (Brief Market Report: Mining sector in Argentina, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Netherlands, Jan 2021).

The Argentinian government has declared its goal of strongly promoting mining, in an environmentally and socially sustainable manner.

Mining extraction in Argentina went through a notorious boom throughout the 2000s, driven by the export of metals among which copper, gold and silver stand out. This trend, initiated and led by these metals – and deepened with the installation of extractive projects for non-metallic minerals, such as lithium or potassium, also destined for the world market, had started when these materials began to be exploited to a great scale in the late 1990s.

Regarding Lithium it holds the 4th largest lithium reserve in the world. Current production ranks the country 3rd on a global level. The current exploration budget for lithium stands among the biggest worldwide.

Argentina is one of Latin America’s largest economies and most stable democracies but continues to struggle with economic mismanagement and political dysfunction. (Council on Foreign Relations; 07.02.2022)

Argentina presents investment and trade opportunities, particularly in agriculture, energy, health, infrastructure, information technology, and mining. (U.S. Department of State; 2021 Investment Climate Statements: Argentina)

As a MERCOSUR member, Argentina signed a free trade and investment agreement with the European Union (EU) in June 2019 but has not ratified it yet.

Argentina previously ratified the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement on January 22, 2018.

Argentina and the United States continue to expand bilateral commercial and economic cooperation through Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) and Americas initiative.

Foreign and domestic investors generally compete under the same conditions in Argentina. Foreign private entities can establish and own business enterprises and engage in all forms of remunerative activity in nearly all sectors. Full foreign equity ownership of Argentine businesses is not restricted, for the most part, with an exception in the air transportation and media industries. (U.S. Department of State; 2021 Investment Climate Statements: Argentina)

No nationalizing movement like in Chile: “Chile to nationalize its lithium industry” (mining.com; 21.04.2023)

High level of expertise and high availability of employees

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