Argentina

Source: http://geology.com/

Source: http://geology.com/



The Salar del Hombre Muerto is a 565 km2 playa in Argentina with a 280 km2 salt nucleus in its south-east section. The salar contains brines with concentrations ranging from 190 to 900 ppm lithium. Compared to Atacama and Uyuni, Hombre Muerto has lower concentrations of lithium but also very low levels of magnesium, which in high concentrations can cause problems in processing of brines to extract lithium.

Salar del Hombre Muerto


Li brine analysis (g/L) across the Salar del Hombre Muerto; concentrations below 0.03% Li are in red (Adapted from Garrett ).

FMC Corporation (NYSE:FMC) obtained the rights to Hombre Muerto from the Argentine government in 1995. Production in 2008 was estimated at 3,115 tonnes of lithium metal, or 10,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate and 7,600 tonnes of lithium chloride. Recent estimates for Hombre Muerto’s lithium reserves range from 0.4 to 0.850 Mt.

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