[Reporter’s Notebook] The Potential to Become a 'Resource Powerhouse' Discovered on the Other Side of the Globe

Jaehoon Oh, Deputy General Manager of DP Production Technology at POSCO Argentina, is explaining about the POSCO lithium pond located at Hombre Muerto Salt Lake in Argentina.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] December in Argentina was hot. Hot sun, along with the World Cup. Argentina, on the opposite side of the globe, remembered only for Messi or Maradona. Now, there is one more word that comes to mind when thinking of this country: lithium. On the 10th, after departing from Incheon Airport in Korea and taking three flights plus a small plane, I arrived at the Hombre Muerto salt lake in Salta Province, Argentina, located at an altitude of 4,000 meters. POSCO is extracting underground brine located hundreds of meters deep here, 20,000 km away by air, and conducting a lithium extraction business.

Visiting in person, it was easier to find reasons why the business could not be done than reasons why it should be done. First, it is an environment where human survival is difficult. The salt lake area is situated in the barren highland region called ‘Puna,’ so harsh that even flora and fauna struggle to survive. Just a few steps made me short of breath and dizzy, making conversation difficult. POSCO Group brought all kinds of heavy equipment to this place, 8 hours by car from the nearest city Salta, built a factory, and even constructed dormitories for employees to live and work, preparing the site.

Also, politics and finance are unstable. Populism has prevailed in the political sphere, causing financial instability and various management risks. The Argentine government, which has declared default multiple times, prohibits taking foreign currency abroad even if profits are made within Argentina unless investments exceed several hundred billion won. The tax burden was high, including export taxes imposed on exporting companies.

Despite these risks, POSCO Group took on the challenge. They foresaw and prioritized the value of lithium, a core material for batteries, even amid danger. Thanks to their agile moves amid capital-rich countries and companies like China, the United States, and Australia, they acquired mining rights to a salt lake with the highest lithium content, and a lithium business worth 10 trillion won annually by 2030 is now within reach. Considering reserves and lithium prices, POSCO Group can produce and export lithium worth about 290 trillion won over the next 30 years. Especially, POSCO employees who fought altitude sickness and succeeded in the lithium business in a remote highland where it takes two full days by plane just to meet their families. They were living proof that Korea, a resource-poor country, can be transformed into a resource-rich nation.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.