Total CapEx for the Caucharí-Olaroz lithium project in Argentina will range betweenUS$500 million and US$600 million, depending on final design criteria and projectstaging.

Caucharí-Olaroz is a jointventure signed in March between SociedadQuimica y Minera de Chile SA and Lithium Americas Corp.

SQM said May 4 that the project's production capacity is targetedat 40,000 tons per year of lithium carbonate equivalent.

Construction is expected to start in the first half of 2017.Plant commissioning and production is targeted to begin by 2019.