MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: mining and crude oil production grow in first semester of 2023

Lithium carbonate and other lithium minerals showed an increase of 12.7% year-on-year

According to a study by Argentina's National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec) released Monday, the mining industrial production index (IPI minero) reported a 10.7% year-on-year increase from June 2022 while crude oil production rose 8.2% interannually. Overall, industrial production of hydrocarbons and mining had an 11% increase in the first semester of 2023.

“In June 2023, the index of 'Extraction of crude oil and natural gas and support services for the extraction of crude oil and natural gas' shows a rise of 11.7 percent compared to the same month of 2022. The accumulated January-June 2023 shows an increase of 13.2 percent with respect to the same accumulated period of the previous year,” Indec's report said.

Meanwhile, in June 2023, the index of “Extraction of metalliferous minerals” (gold, silver) shows a drop of 7.0 percent in relation to the same month in 2022. The accumulated January-June 2023 shows a decrease of 10.1 percent compared to the same accumulated period of the previous year.

The production of non-metalliferous minerals and application rocks (lithium, fracture sands, and granite) grew 15.1 percent year-on-year in the sixth month of the year and accumulated in the first half of 2023 an increase of 7.5%.

Lithium carbonate and other lithium minerals showed an increase of 12.7% year-on-year and a cumulative increase of 11.7% so far this year.

Another component of this Mining Industrial Production Index published by Indec is the “Extraction of clay and kaolin,” which showed a decrease of 3.3% in June compared to the same month of 2022. In this sector, the extraction of common clay, such as ceramics, ferruginous or miscellaneous, dropped 0.9%, accompanied by a 22.4% drop in Plastics. Thus, the accumulated for the first six months of the year showed an increase of 15.1% compared to the same period in 2022.

The exploitation of “Minerals for the manufacture of chemical products” showed an interannual increase of 10.4% in June. With this result, the accumulated January-June 2023 reached an increase of 9% with respect to the same accumulated period of the previous year.

According to the Contrahegemonía website, “the priority for the Government, the opposition, and the economic power is to organize the country around extractivism as a project of capital accumulation and national dependence. That is to say, to exploit as much of nature's common goods as possible, transforming them into ”commodities“, merchandise destined for the international market. The objective: to obtain dollars to pay the IMF and private funds.”

The platform also underlined that the Argentine province of Jujuy was “a mirror in which we can look at ourselves from all over the country, whoever wins the next elections.” Lithium, coltan, and mega cannabis plantations “are the flip side of Jujuy's poverty, discrimination, exclusion, and repression.”