Australian lithium junior Orocobre today has acquired Borax Argentina from Rio Tinto Plc, for $8.5m.
The purchase was made after a two stage due diligence process, Orocobre said.
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The Salar de Olaroz - home to
Orocobre's lithium project and
near to Borax Argentina's operations
Credit: Orocobre |
“During the process, it was concluded that although Borax Argentina is currently only a relatively small and marginally profitable producer, it is asset-rich in terms of mines, plant and human resources and has potential to materially improve performance based on processing recovery improvements and plant utilisation,” Orocobre said.
The company added that there was also potential to increase “the operational scale” of Borax Argentina.
Borax Argentina has been in operation for over 50 years and, in 2011, it produced around 35,000 tpa boron-based products out of three open pit mines in Tincalayu, Sijes,...