In the world’s race for cleaner, faster and cheaper lithium, all eyes are on Argentina’s salt flats

The $870 million project in the northern province of Salta puts Argentina, the world’s No. 4 lithium producer, in the spotlight ahead of projects due online in the country in the coming months from mining giant Rio Tinto, South Korea’s Posco and Chinese miners Zijin and Ganfeng.

In a dusty plain in northern Argentina’s mountains, black tubes stretching two stories high fill a massive tank with salty brine sucked from deep below ground.