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Other governors from key lithium regions Catamarca and Salta said the same.

Three more are in Mendoza, Catamarca and Salta, all near the north-west Andean border with Chile.

Argentina’s production boost would come from the expansion of the only two producing operations - U.S. firm Livent’s Fénix project in Catamarca and Australian Allkem Ltd’s Salar de Olaroz mine in Jujuy - both expected to double output to 42,500 tonnes in the years ahead.

Mr. Mohaded’s sofas resemble angular boulders, though with softened edges and covered in materials that copy the neutral colors of soil and local wildlife; Catamarca is one of the world’s leading suppliers of vicuña, the llama-like mammals whose fibers are used to make luxury fabric.

Those inspirational rocks are already a source of comfort for him as part of the landscape where he grew up in the remote Catamarca Province in northwest Argentina, along with the wood of the olive trees that are cultivated there, the buildings constructed of neutral clays, and the brilliant red lakes whose water is colored by the area’s abundant minerals.