Mining exports accumulated between January and September added $2,859 million and thus reached the highest amount since 2013, when sales abroad were recorded for US$ 2,908 million, according to figures released by the Ministry of Mining.
In September, mining exports were $384 million63.6% higher than those of the same month of 2021, driven by the growth of 151% in the quantities of gold and 77% in those of silver, which meant the best September since 2017 for metalliferous exports.
Also, lithium exports were a historical record in septembermainly due to an increase in the international price level of lithium.
In September, 98% of mining exports were explained by five provinces: Santa Cruz (45.3% of the total), San Juan (23.1%), Jujuy (17.9%), Salta (7.8%) and Catamarca (3.7%).
For the same month, mining accounted for 73.6% of total exports in these five provinces, while in the accumulated figure for the first nine months of the year this percentage reached 71.6%.
In the case of Santa Cruz, in September mining exports reached US$ 202 million and increased 64.8% in year-on-year terms.
In the accumulated figure for the year, mining exports from Santa Cruz totaled US$ 1,294 million, which represented a growth of 13.6% year-on-year.
Its export mining basket in September is made up almost entirely (99.8%) of metal minerals (gold represented 69.2% of the total mining and silver 30.6%).
In the case of San Juan, in September mining exports reached US$60 million, 34.2% higher than September 2021.
In the accumulated of the first nine months of the year, mining exports from the province totaled US$ 661 million, which implied a growth of 27.9% compared to the same period in 2021.
Regarding the composition of exports, gold is the mineral with the highest incidence in the export basket: in September it represented 92.6% of mining sales abroad in the province.
In the NOA provinces (Catamarca, Jujuy and Salta) mining exports in September reached US$115 million, with a year-on-year growth of 91.7%, largely due to the increase in the international price of lithium and the exported quantities.
In the accumulated of the first nine months of the year, mining exports from these provinces totaled US$ 840 million, which implied a year-on-year growth of 71.1% compared to the same period in 2021.
In September, lithium and metal mining represented 95% of total mining exports: Lithium explained 55.8% of sales abroad, while gold and silver accumulated 38.7% (21% and 17.7 %, respectively).
