Lithium producer Orocobre suspends Argentina ops on Covid-19 infections

Australian lithium producer Orocobre temporarily halted operations at its Argentina mine over the weekend of October 24-25 following positive Covid-19 test results among 35 of its employees, it said Monday on October 26.

The company is cleaning the site and rotating staff, and expects to resume operations at the site this week, it said.

The stoppage is not expected to have a financial or operational impact, it added.

Orocobre said it has a bio-security plan developed in accordance with established national regulations and best practice approaches within the industry in the jurisdictions where it operates.

The Olaroz lithium facility is located in the Jujuy Province in northern Argentina.

The company earlier in October said stage 1 ramp-up works for it Olaroz facility would recommence in financial year 2021 with capacity expected to range 15,000-17,500 tonnes per year of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) by financial year 2022, depending on product mix between battery and industrial grade lithium carbonate.

Stage 2 expansion works at the same site were approximately 40% complete but were forced to slow down due to Covid-19-related restrictions, it said earlier this month.

What to read next
Sluggish demand for China’s graphite flake fines in both the batteries’ anode and refractories sectors has led to ongoing output cuts among flake miners and processors, which has further tightened the supply of large flake graphite in China, sources told Fastmarkets.
The growth in Chinese shipments of batteries for energy storage systems (ESS) is far outstripping the growth in deliveries of batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), sources told Fastmarkets in the week to Friday November 1.
UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has confirmed that fuel duty will not rise in 2025, keeping the previous 5 pence-per-liter discount in place.
After a consultation period, Fastmarkets has discontinued the price due to a lack of liquidity and production of the commodity. All short-term forecasts associated with this price produced by the Fastmarkets research team, if any, have also been discontinued. If you have any comments on the discontinuation of this price, please contact Zihao Li by email […]
Australian lithium producer Pilbara Minerals will be placing its Ngungaju plant on care and maintenance from December 2024, the company announced on Tuesday October 29.
Paris-headquartered minerals firm Eramet announced the buy-back of Tsingshan Holding Group’s 49.9% stake in Eramine Sudamerica on Thursday October 24, effectively regaining full ownership of the Centenario lithium project in Argentina.