Profitable minerals: Russian companies to mine lithium in Argentina

Several dozen joint projects with the Russian Federation in the field of natural resources extraction are being prepared for launch in the Argentine provinces of Jujuy, Salta, Catamarca and San Juan, Izvestia found out. The priority area of work is the development of lithium deposits, and companies have an interest in this area, Argentine Ambassador Enrique Ignacio Ferrer Vieira told Izvestia. Argentina, along with Bolivia and Chile, have almost half of the world's metal deposits. Cooperation, although at the level of private companies, is important in the context of the difficult diplomatic relations between Moscow and Buenos Aires under the administration of Javier Miley. How much is invested in this business and how much money can be earned is in the Izvestia article.

Potential of mining projects in Argentina

About 70 projects in the field of natural resources extraction are being prepared for launch in Argentina, Izvestia has learned.

— There are already several Russian companies that have opened representative offices in Argentina and are engaged in the development of natural resources, in particular lithium. We have noticed that there is interest in this area," Argentine Ambassador to Russia Enrique Ignacio Ferrer Vieira told Izvestia.

Most of the projects with Russian participation are in the initial stages, including the approval of work permits (in the field of ecology and social sphere), after which the companies will begin to assess the viability of the projects, the Embassy of Argentina in the Russian Federation explained. Geographically, they are concentrated in the provinces of Jujuy, Salta, Catamarca and San Juan.

Earlier, the Russian trade mission in Argentina reported that the countries have good prospects for cooperation in the field of hydropower and lithium mining.

Despite the fact that Russian companies are most interested in projects related specifically to lithium mining, cooperation in the field of mining other natural resources is not excluded, the Argentine embassy stressed.

"We have a fairly small trade turnover with Argentina, so any joint projects will have a positive impact on its growth," says Alina Shcherbakova, a researcher at the Center for Political Studies at the Institute of Latin America of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

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According to official data for 2021, the trade turnover between Russia and Argentina amounted to $1.3 billion, by 2024 this figure had halved, the ambassador of the Latin American state previously told Izvestia.

Trade relations between Moscow and Buenos Aires have suffered since the beginning of the armed conflict in Ukraine due to logistical difficulties and problems with making payments. Political tensions in bilateral relations since libertarian Javier Miley came to power in December 2023 have also had an impact on the development of bilateral trade. Nevertheless, despite the absence of contracts between Russia and Argentina at the state level, private companies continue to cooperate.

— We do not seek to conclude an agreement at the state level, these issues are handled by private companies. At the national level, we don't have any projects with Russia," said Enrique Ignacio Ferrer Vieira.

How much can you earn from mining lithium

Argentina's main natural resources include gold, lithium, copper, and silver.

In February 2025, the Latin American republic exported $208 million worth of gold, $45 million worth of silver, and $66 million worth of lithium. The main buyers were Switzerland, China, the USA and Canada. At the same time, Argentina sent the largest amount of lithium to China (73%), significantly less to the USA (12%), South Korea (6%), Japan (3%) and other countries (6%).

Together with Bolivia and Chile, Argentina is part of the so-called lithium triangle, which contains about 54% of the world's reserves of this metal. According to the Argentine Chamber of Mining Companies (CAEM), the country intends to produce 130.8 thousand tons of lithium carbonate equivalent in 2025, thus increasing volumes by 75% compared to the previous year. Currently, there are 61 projects in the country in the field of mining this metal.

Lithium is necessary for the production of lithium-ion batteries, which are used in laptops, mobile phones, electric vehicles, and are also needed for renewable energy projects. In Russia, the material is also used for the production of glass, ceramics and lubricants.

China is one of the main manufacturers of lithium-ion batteries in the world. The country is actively investing in lithium mining projects in various countries, including Latin America. As of 2023, Beijing had seven lithium mining projects in Argentina. At the same time, since January 2020, China has invested about $3,224 million in various mining projects in the Latin American country.

Thanks to the active development and use of lithium, the Chinese battery manufacturing giant Modern Amperex Technology managed to earn about $50.01 billion last year.

According to older data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China, in 2023, the volume of lithium-ion battery production exceeded 940 gigawatt-hours, which in monetary terms amounts to about $197 billion in profit for Beijing.

One of the buyers of lithium-ion batteries from China is Russia. There are companies in our country that produce this type of battery, but most of them are focused on the military equipment market, not the civilian one.

As for lithium supplies to the Russian market, Chile and Argentina have been its main exporters for a long time. It is known that, for example, in 2021, Moscow purchased 10.7 thousand tons of lithium compounds from them. Then information appeared in the media that after the start of its cooperation in this area had stopped. As a result, Bolivia remained the only supplier. Currently, Russia and Bolivia have a joint project in the field of lithium mining, however, work has not yet begun, and the parties are awaiting approval from the Bolivian parliament.

Joint projects of Russia and Argentina in the field of lithium mining can help the Russian Federation accelerate the pace of import substitution. Nevertheless, experts note that the priority for our country should not be investments in foreign enterprises, but work on its territory.

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— When we talk about the development of hydrocarbons in some other countries, we must be careful when we say that we are making investments and this is good. This is not very good for the state, so it's better for private companies to invest there, rather than state—owned ones," Igor Yushkov, an expert at the Financial University and a leading analyst at the National Energy Security Fund, tells Izvestia.

For a long time, Russia had no need to develop its own lithium deposits, as it was more profitable to purchase raw materials from abroad. Nevertheless, the president has repeatedly called for the need to start more actively operating in his own metal deposits. So, in February 2025, at the plenary session of the Future Technologies Forum, Vladimir Putin drew attention to the fact that Russia needs to address this issue: "We basically have everything we need."