BUENOS AIRES, March 19 (Reuters) - Global miner Rio

Tinto will invest $350 million at its Rincon lithium

plant in Argentina as it works to begin production by the end of

the year, the company said this week following Chief Executive

Jakob Stausholm's visit to the site.

"The hard work of our Rincon team is laying the groundwork

for our first lithium production by year's end," he said in a

statement to Reuters late on Monday, after a recent trip to the

project in the northern province of Salta.

Rio Tinto, the world's biggest iron ore producer, is one of

the few large mining companies betting on lithium even as

counterparts such as BHP stay away from investing in the metal,

which is used in electric vehicle batteries.

The company purchased the Rincon project from Rincon Mining

in 2022 for $825 million, and plans to develop a battery-grade

lithium carbonate plant with an annual capacity of 3,000 tons.

Rio Tinto said it is working with local communities and

authorities to ensure environmental standards.

Argentina, part of a so-called "lithium triangle" with Chile

and Bolivia which holds half the world's resources of the

mineral, has increasingly attracted investment from

international lithium miners.

The country's lithium production increased more than 45%

from 2022 to 2023, according to the U.S. Geological Survey,

reaching 9,600 metric tons.