Written by Li Shuo
Editor丨Wheat
in power,energy storageBatteryUnder the prospect of high-certainty demand, the development of domestic salt lake lithium resources has accelerated significantly.
On May 26, Salt Lake, the leading domestic salt lake lithium extraction company, announced that it plans to invest 7 billion yuan to build a lithium salt project with an annual output of 40,000 tons.
According to the introduction of Salt Lake Co., Ltd., the 40,000-ton lithium salt project is a project with an annual output of 20,000 tons of battery-grade lithium carbonate and an annual output of 20,000 tons of lithium chloride. The construction period is two years.
01Exclusive investment of 7 billion yuan
On December 27, 2017, Salt Lake Co., Ltd. announced that it planned to start a 50,000-ton/year battery-grade lithium carbonate project.BYDResource Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Salt Lake BYD”) and Qinghai Salt Lake Fozhao Lanke Lithium Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Lanke Lithium Industry”), the holding company of Salt Lake Co., Ltd., were completed, with a total investment of 7.981 billion yuan.
At that time, our countrynew energy vehiclesThe industry is in the initial stage of development, the demand for lithium resources has just begun, and the market supply and demand are still relatively balanced. It is precisely because of this that because the price of lithium salt is at a low level, the project has been pushed forward intermittently for many years. Up to now, the 30,000-ton battery-grade lithium carbonate project it cooperates with BYD is still in progress. “BYD is currently using this project. The company’s own lithium extraction technology is undergoing pilot test work, and after the pilot test results are verified, the two parties will negotiate the launch of the project.”
However, today is not what it used to be, and the price of lithium salts is not the same.Since the fourth quarter of 2020, the new energy vehicle and energy storage markets have exploded rapidly, withPower BatteryThe accelerated release of demand has pushed the price of lithium salts to skyrocket like a rocket. As of March this year, the highest quotation for battery-grade lithium carbonate exceeded 510,000 yuan/ton, a 10-fold increase from 50,000 yuan/ton in 2020.
After a lapse of 5 years, Salt Lake once again spent 7 billion yuan to build a 40,000-ton lithium salt project.
It is worth noting that, unlike the joint venture construction with other companies five years ago, this time Salt Lake Co., Ltd. did not build joint ventures with other companies, but fought alone.
In this regard, some analysts pointed out that one of the main reasons for the independent investment of Salt Lake Co., Ltd. is to catch up with the progress. “Salt Lake Co., Ltd. has entered into joint ventures with other entities before it is absorbed, and the recommendation is relatively slow”; on the other hand, it also shows that the company has relatively abundant funds. support.
Salt Lake Co., Ltd. stated that the company’s expansion of capacity on the basis of the existing 30,000 tons/year lithium carbonate production capacity will help consolidate the industry position of salt lake lithium extraction and accelerate its role as the “escort” of new energy.
02 battery,MaterialEnterprises “get together” to develop domestic salt lake resources
From the demand side, the power and energy storage battery capacity planned by the world‘s major battery companies is expected to exceed 3,000GWh by 2025. According to the actual production capacity, it is estimated that 10,000 tons of lithium carbonate processing capacity can meet the demand for 15GWh batteries, and the demand for lithium carbonate capacity will exceed 1.5 million tons by 2025.
In fact, judging from the market changes in the past two years, the output of new energy vehicles has continued to hit new highs, driving the demand for power batteries to grow by leaps and bounds. Lithium salts have gradually changed from a balance of supply and demand to a state of tight supply. Only in 2021, China’s lithium carbonate imports will be year-on-year. An increase of 61.69%, and the demand for lithium salts at home and abroad will continue to grow in the future.
China’s proven lithium resources rank sixth in the world, of which brine lithium resources account for about 80%, and are mainly distributed in Qinghai and Tibet. Due to the poor mining environment, low quality of salt lakes, and difficult lithium extraction technology, domestic lithium resources have long been severely Relying on imports, imports will still account for about 70% in 2021.
However, with the continuous high growth of downstream demand, the high price of lithium salt, the shortage of raw materials and the breakthrough of lithium extraction technology in salt lakes, the development of lithium resources in domestic salt lakes has accelerated significantly.
In fact, since last year, due to the rapid growth of market demand, the expected continued shortage of lithium salts in the next few years, and the high price factors, battery companies, mining companies, and lithium salt companies are all accelerating the deployment of domestic lithium resources. According to incomplete statistics of Battery China, including BYD,Yiwei Lithium Energy、Guoxuan Hi-Tech、Sunwanda、Ganfeng Lithium IndustryFulin Precision, Zangge Lithium, Lanke Lithium, Tibet Mining, Minmetals Salt Lake, Jinyuan Co., Ltd., etc. have all joined the development camp of domestic salt lake lithium resources.
It is worth noting that on May 24, Yiwei Lithium Energy also quietly established a wholly-owned subsidiary in Qinghai, Qinghai Yiwei Power Co., Ltd., which is registered in Qinghai Golmud Kunlun Economic Development Zone. In October last year, Yiwei Lithium Energy, Jinkunlun Lithium Industry and Golmud City reached a cooperation agreement and signed an industrial strategic cooperation agreement to jointly develop salt lake lithium resources and strive to build a world-class salt lake industrial base.
In addition to deploying lithium resources in Qinghai, Yiwei may directly deploy battery factories in Qinghai. According to reports, in October last year, Yiwei Lithium Energy, Tibet Yiwei Holdings and Golmud City reached an agreement on the development of mineral resources and the production of power storage batteries with an annual output of 10GWh, and signed the “Lithium Resources Industry Development and Utilization Project Investment Agreement”. It is expected to invest nearly 3 billion yuan.
In addition to the direct layout of Qinghai lithium resources, in January this year, Yiwei Lithium Energy also signed a “Strategic Cooperation Agreement” with Lanxiao Technology to actively participate in the development and utilization of lithium resources in Tibet’s Jieze Chaka Salt Lake.
03 Overseas “grabbing of lithium” continues
Just a few days before the 7 billion investment of Salt Lake Co., Ltd., China Mining Resources disclosed that it planned to raise no more than 3 billion yuan for the Chunpeng Lithium Industry’s annual output of 35,000 tons of high-purity lithium salt projects, Zimbabwe BikitaLithium mine2 million t/a construction project, Zimbabwe Bikita lithium mine 1.2 million t/a reconstruction and expansion project and supplementary working capital.
Among them, the Zimbabwe Bikita lithium mine 2 million t/a construction project has a total investment of 1.273 billion yuan, and the total construction period of the project is expected to be 12 months. After the project reaches production, it will produce about 300,000 tons of spodumene concentrate and 90,000 tons of lepidolite concentrate annually.
In early May, Guoxuan Hi-Tech signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the National Energy and Mining Corporation of Jujuy Province, Argentina (hereinafter referred to as JEMSE). The two parties decided to carry out all-round strategic cooperation on the guarantee of local lithium mine resources, the construction of lithium carbonate refinery, and downstream business expansion.
According to the agreement, Guoxuan Hi-Tech and JEMSE will jointly build a battery-grade lithium carbonate refinery in the Free Trade Zone of Jujuy Province. The latter will provide exploration and mining rights for potential lithium mineral resources with an exploration area of about 17,000 hectares to ensure resource supply.The two sides will also expandLithium batteryIndustrial downstream business cooperation, including cathode materials, battery manufacturing, etc.
Jujuy Province, Argentina is located in the central area of South America’s “Lithium Triangle”, with concentrated salt lake resources, rich mining experience, and low cost of lithium extraction from brine. JEMSE is a provincial holding mining investment company in Jujuy Province. It is committed to continuously improving lithium extraction technology and mining capacity in salt lakes, and promoting new energy utilization projects such as photovoltaic energy storage. Enterprises establish close cooperation.
Source: Battery China Network
Original title: Two companies invested over 10 billion yuan to develop Qinghai Salt Lake lithium resources