According to information that Nuevo Diario was able to access, yesterday afternoon the Posco Downstream Commercial Plant in the General Güemes Industrial Park had to be evacuated.
This plant must complete the production process of the highly industrialized value chain, with the processing of lithium hydroxide. For this, it will use as input the phosphate produced at the Upstream plant located north of the Salar del Hombre Muerto.
According to those reported to New dairy had access, a spill of Hydrochloric Acid (HCL) occurred.
Hydrochloric Acid is an essential component in the lithium industry, mainly used in the extraction and refining processes of the mineral.
In this sense, the spill that occurred yesterday forced the total evacuation of the Korean mining plant.
No workers were injured or intoxicated, according to initial information. In any case, the requirement is that next Monday the company must present a detailed report of what happened.
Likewise, and in the south of the province, the journalist from Güeme Luis Leal reported that the evacuation was carried out as a precautionary measure after a leak was detected in one of the tanks that contained hydrochloric acid, a highly toxic chemical.
Thanks to the tank’s efficient safety measures, there were no injuries or poisoning. The authorities explained that the operation was carried out preventively.
Immediately, work began to transfer the acid to another tank. This Wednesday, work continued to completely solve the problem. As a precaution, all General Güemes staff were also evacuated after lunch, leaving only the workers in charge of the task.
According to Leal, around 600 workers are involved in mining operations in the industrial park.
Once again, the mining company finds itself in the eye of the storm, and opens the door to questions that it must answer (or should) about the systematic non-compliance that is becoming public, taking into account that days ago it was outsourced and contracted for a POSCO mining civil works received dismissal notifications, some by WhatsApp and others through a paper signed by the person in charge of the company, but none by telegram, as indicated by the Law.
Request RIGI benefits
The request for entry into the regime by Posco occurred through its owner, Jeong Ki-seopwho has just met with the Minister of Economy Luis Caputo. Both actors held a meeting in which the roadmap for lithium projects in Argentina was discussed.
It was in this context that Ki-seop requested that the firm be included among the beneficiaries of the RIGI. Among other aspects, the regime eliminates the payment of imports, the PAIS tax, establishes the free availability of foreign currency and the management of dividends, and exempts companies from obligations such as the payment of taxes and fees, including municipal ones. It also establishes the exemption from Income Tax, and some of its articles eliminate “import duties, the statistics and destination verification fee, and all collection regimes.”
600 workers could have been poisoned.
