White & Case advises Rincon Mining and Rio Tinto Minerals on US$1.175 billion project financing

Global law firm White & Case LLP has advised Rincon Mining Pty Limited, acting through its Argentine branch, as borrower, and its parent company Rio Tinto Minerals Limited, as shareholder, on a US$1.175 billion project financing for a lithium brine development project located in the "Lithium Triangle" in the Salta province of Argentina.

"This is the first international structured financing of one of Argentina's largest critical minerals mining projects approved under the RIGI investment promotion framework," said White & Case Co-Head of the Global Project Development and Finance Practice, Carlos Viana. "It demonstrates the success of the program’s economic incentives and legal stability protections in attracting the world’s leading natural resources companies and international financial institutions to make multibillion-dollar investments in Argentina’s mining investment pipeline, which is projected to encompass tens of billions of dollars in the next few years."

The multi-sourced, structurally hybrid agency financing comprises loans from the International Finance Corporation, IDB Invest, Export Finance Australia and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. The proceeds will be used to support the development of the US$2.5 billion Rincon lithium project, which is targeting approximately 60,000 tons of annual battery-grade lithium carbonate capacity.

"This transaction underscores White & Case’s strong capabilities in designing and executing sophisticated financing structures for innovative mining and metals projects worldwide," said White & Case Co-Head of the Global Mining & Metals Industry Group, Rebecca Campbell. "The Rincon lithium project is slated to be one of the most significant extraction and refinement projects in the Lithium Triangle, strengthening the global supply of this critical mineral."

The project financing is the latest of several White & Case–led matters in the sector, including recently advising Serra Verde Group on its US$565 million financing.

The White & Case Project Development and Finance team was led by partner Carlos Viana, and included counsel Ana Arias and associates Paula Hernandez Garaycoa (all in Miami), Chris Bergan (Mexico City), Ekaterina Logvinova, Kian Newlyn (both in London), Huw Knox and James Foo (both in Sydney). Latin America Fellow Macarena Rolon (New York) also advised on the matter.

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