President Lee Jae-myung, on an official visit to Argentina, said on the 31st (local time) that "during this visit, Korea and Argentina will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation in the critical minerals supply chain."
Lee said this in a written interview with Spain's EFE news agency released ahead of his summit with Argentine President Javier Milei that day. In an EFE interview conducted before his tour of South America, Lee also emphasized that Korea's advanced manufacturing and battery technology should be combined with South America's critical minerals to build a stable supply chain.
Lee explained that the MOU aims to establish a cooperative framework across the entire critical minerals supply chain. He stressed that Korea, which has advanced capabilities in the battery sector, can be Argentina's optimal partner as it seeks to add value to its mineral resources.
As a representative example of cooperation between the two countries, he pointed to POSCO's Argentina subsidiary's "Sal de Oro" lithium project under way locally. POSCO is pushing a business to extract and process lithium from brine and produce lithium compounds for secondary battery materials.
Lee also expressed expectations for expanding cooperation in the energy sector. Argentina is increasing production of shale oil and gas, centered on Vaca Muerta. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimated that Vaca Muerta holds 308 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable shale gas and 16 billion barrels of shale oil and condensate.
Lee also introduced the fact that HD Hyundai Oilbank purchased Argentine crude for the first time this year. He added, "With stable transport conditions, Argentina can play a more important role in the changing global energy landscape," and said, "I hope this visit will be a new starting point for energy cooperation between the two countries."