This week they will announce in the trans-Andean country that they will disburse US$ 47 million to search for lithium in the Salar de Antofalla. If they find it, they will bet a total of $500 million. While in Chile they have committed another US$ 650 million and have told the government that they are available to take positions in the new strategy. In Catamarca, Argentina, it could be the next production destination for the U.S. company Albemarle, which would become its second market, after Chile, in the south of the continent.
It has been the country manager of the local operation, the Chilean Ignacio Mehech, who is leading the project, after being appointed VP of External Affairs for Latam. In March, they approved the environmental exploration permit and this week they announced that they will invest US$ 47 million in the first stage, which consists of drilling almost 15 thousand meters for 14 months.
If the results of the studies are positive, and if the macroeconomic conditions are met, the company says, no less than US$ 500 million will be invested to produce lithium in the trans-Andean country.
All that investment is in addition to the already announced US$ 650 million in its two plants in Chile.
Mehech also appointed a country manager in Argentina in December 2022. This is Luciano Berenstein, who worked for 12 years in the Argentine Chamber of Mining Entrepreneurs, becoming its executive director.
Albemarle knows that, as in Chile, it must have good relations with the governments of the day and the communities in order to move forward, so they looked for someone who knew the sector and who had good connections.
Being the U.S. company, and having a direct line to the global top brass – so much so that the former country manager, Ellen Lenny-Pessagno, is now global vice president of Government and Community Affairs – they know that South America is key for the world's largest lithium producer.
And being American has also played in their favor, they say in the market. This is how representatives of the Embassy of the United States, the European Union, and companies such as Tesla, BMW and Mercedes Benz have arrived at the Salar de Atacama. Being American and not Chinese, says one insider, opens more doors for them.
Alliance with the State
Today its projects are in the Salar de Atacama, to which the Salar de Antofalla, in Catamarca, would be added, but the company has the order to explore all the opportunities that open up.
And that means, they confide in the firm, obtaining more market share. Although they are the only ones along with SQM that are in the Salar de Atacama, they want to increase their production. Currently, the firm of Chilean and Chinese capital has 819 square kilometers of the Salar and a capacity to operate 1,700 liters per second; while the U.S. company adds 186 square kilometers and a pumping of 442 liters per second.
That is why the government's announcement of its national lithium policy has Albemarle expectant. Whether it rearranges the positions in the Salar de Atacama – Soqui's contract ends in 2030, and Albemarle's in 2043 – they are willing to ask for more capacity to produce, as well as go to all the tenders or tenders thatand are done both directly and in public-private partnership, as the government has shown.
In fact, Mehech himself went to the Senate to present and recalled that the current model of relationship between communities and government in Salar de Atacama is the model they created, because they signed in 2016 with Corfo, two years before SQM did. In the Upper House, he raised the issue of moving towards direct extraction systems and the arrival of desalinated seawater to the Salar de Atacama basin.
The tour of Argentina
The talks began shortly before the pandemic with Argentina, but were halted for health reasons. Last year a delegation traveled from Chile to Buenos Aires and Catamarca to generate ties with the local authorities, and they established a very good relationship with the Secretary of Mining of the Nation, María Fernanda Ávila, who in fact later visited the Salar de Atacama plant in Chile.
They also met with the Governor of Catamarca, Raúl Jalil, and Mehech spoke at the seminar 'Lithium in South America' that was held in Catamarca. After these efforts, the formation of a local team led by Luciano Berenstein, Albemarle's country manager in Argentina who works closely with the Chilean team, was accelerated.
"Albemarle's commitment begins to translate into concrete actions in the country with a new stage of our exploration in the Province of Catamarca, bringing work and sustainable development opportunities to the territory, starting the path towards the new era of lithium in Argentina," says Berenstein.
In addition, they have already held working meetings with local communities to generate ties and avoid any conflict.
Albemarle, by order of North Carolina, where the company's headquarters are located, has also accelerated the pace in Argentina, because it knows that the government is pushing hard for new investments and there are several actors that have announced the arrival in Catamarca, Jujuy and Salta, which is where lithium would be concentrated.
Without going any further, Tianqi, one of SQM's main shareholders, signed an agreement with the government of Alberto Fernández last year to build a battery plant. SQM in turn had a project since 2016 in Argentina, but discarded it and sold its stake for the Exar initiative to China's Ganfeng Lithium. YPF, Argentina's state-owned company, also began exploration in Catamarca last year.
Argentina wants to fight for Chile's leadership in lithium. And Albemarle wants to be on both sides, according to the industry.
Who is Ignacio Mehech, the Chilean in charge of leading Albemarle's expansion in the region
Before being country manager and in charge of all Albemarle's Latin American affairs, Mehech was Regional Counsel for Latam at Albemarle, where he spent almost four years in that position. The lawyer from the University of Chile, with a master's degree from the University of Melbourne, also worked at the El Abra Mining Company, owned by Freeport-McMoRan.
And in an effort to involve more women in the front line of the American, in January of last year Carla Araya took over as Regional Counsel, replacing Mehech. Araya, a lawyer from the University of Chile with a master's degree from the University of Denver, is no stranger to the mining world, having worked uninterruptedly between 2006 and 2021 at Antofagasta Minerals, the mining company of the Luksic Group, where she became a senior corporate lawyer.
Mehech's (40-year-old) style is close and relaxed, say those who work with him. The first thing he did when he took office was to take the tie out of corporate photos.
He likes to play tennis, which he does at least once a week at Club Sirio, with which he has a very close relationship being part of the board, because he is a direct descendant: his grandparents were born in that country.
In Catamarca, Argentina, he visited an Arab restaurant and met with the local Syrian community.
Married and father of three girls aged 3, 5 and 7, he is a promoter of the keto diet, and, they say, he has managed to add adherents within the office.
He has encouraged the meetings of the front line to be held in the plants, in order to have a direct view of what is happening in them, their progress and to listen and dialogue with as many workers as possible.
A fan of Cobreloa and Calama, the city where he took his first professional steps and where he lived his first years of marriage, it is normal to see him in the city's stadium. Last Sunday, when Cobreloa won by two goals against Santiago Wanderers, Mehech was there. This year the company became a sponsor of the desert team.
The role of Marcelo Valdebenito, Albemarle's Corporate Affairs and Communications Manager, who has led the open-door policy of the operation in the Salar de Atacama, has also been key in its strategy. Thanks to this, for example, Amazon Prime recorded the first Chilean action trilogy, Sayen, in the Albemarle operation, where they spent more than a year working and up to 100 extras participated, almost all from the neighboring community.
But in addition to the visits of authorities and clients, they have received, for example, the English model, actress and environmental influencer, Lily Cole.
Mehech is directly involved in these visits and not only directs them, but also often transports visitors on the routes between Antofagasta and the Salar or to San Pedro de Atacama.
Faithful to the benefits of using lithium in electromobility, he drives an electric car, an Audi E-tron.
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