Das habe ich gefunden, Midas Letter - James West - der ist wohl derzeit vor Ort:
www.financialpost.com/m/wp/midas-letter/blog.html?b=b…
MidasLetter Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016
James West Salta, A
rgentina, is city of just over one million residents. The principle industry here is agriculture, primarily tobacco. The city occupies the eastern foothills of the Andean Cordillera, and is more characteristic of Andean culture than the European vibe of Buenos Aires. Most Salteños, as the locals call themselves, are oblivious to the invasion happening in their city. Apart from the taxi drivers who are well aware that there are a lot more financial gringos showing up at the airport needing rides to local hotels, the lithium story primarily unfolds on distant peaks and in high remote valleys. Most of the companies active here — primarily TSX Venture-listed ones on the exploration front, with a smattering of Australians — are in exploration mode, with the notable exception of Orocobre, who is the first new lithium carbonate producer in the Western world in 20 years. With exploration, the impact on the local community is more subtle than a fully operational mining operation, so the indifference toward lithium by the residents of Salta is understandable. What is apparent on my first day waking up in Salta is that each of the companies here are manned by individuals who, by varying degrees, have been working in and living in Argentina for years. Iain Scarr, who is president of Millenial Lithium Corp.’s Argentine subsidiary, is a case in point. Formerly with Rio Tinto, he and his wife have lived in Salta for the last eight years. His wife is a hydrologist who has sampled and studied just about every salar in the province if not on the continent of South America. As we sit enjoying coffee in the lobby of the Sheraton, we are continuously interrupted as Iain greets newcomer after newcomer as they pass throught the lobby. For the most part, they are not guests of the hotel — they are coming to the hotel to meet CEOs and VPs of the various public companies who are currently operating in Argentina. It’s that vibrant. Especially now, in the Southern Hemisphere spring, Salta is a tourist destination extraordinaire, as evidenced by the near-hourly flights that two major airlines — Aerolineas Argentinas and LATAM (the result of a merger between LAN of Chile and TAM of Brazil) — make to the city daily. The main square , literally a quadrangle with a park in the center and shops and sidewalk cafe’s in colonial architecture buildings around the periphery, is jam-packed with tourists and local youth all enjoying the summery breeze and live music on a Monday night. The atmosphere is reminiscent of a street festival, but I am told by many that this is what it is always like when the weather is fine. Several companies are conducting site visits with institutional investors here this week, and the city is a hive of frenetic activity. And they all seem to know each other. “Everybody knows everybody in Salta,” says Scarr. “And almost everybody knows everybody in the lithium space globally. Its a very warm and friendly community.” Jesse Randall was born and raised in Argentina, and acts as country manager for Lithium-X Energy Inc. (CVE:LIX). He says that whereas in the past, there were five or six companies trying to exploit lithium in Salta, that number has swelled to over 20. “I don’t know most of them, or how long they’ll last,” he said on Tuesday. “But lithium is very important for Salta, and for Argentina.” On Wednesday we travel to the 4,500 Pastos Grande salar in Argentina’s high north.