Tibet's 14th five-year Plan or the large-scale development of lithium extraction from salt lakes still needs technical verification.

The fifth session of the 11th people's Congress of the Tibet Autonomous region held a few days ago proposed that during the 14th five-year Plan period, the planned investment in Tibet will be 601.5 billion yuan, an increase of 58 percent over the 13th five-year Plan. The market predicts that the salt lake in Tibet may be included in key construction projects. However, some people in the industry said that in addition to the imperfect infrastructure of the salt lake in Tibet, the technical problem is the main problem hindering the development of lithium extraction from the salt lake.

With regard to the above information, a relevant person of Tibet City Investment (600773.SH) told the Financial Associated Press that he had not yet received the relevant notification of Tibet's 14th five-year Plan to invest in Tibet's Salt Lake, and the company's lithium carbonate production capacity was still under planning. However, some people in the industry said that Tibet and Qinghai are both major provinces of domestic salt lake resources, and with the rapid rise of the status of lithium salt industry and policy opportunities, Tibet's salt lake is likely to be included in key construction projects.

The reporter noted that Tibet Mining (000762.SZ) said in a recent IR report, "at present, from the experience of our enterprises, the government of (Tibet) Autonomous region attaches great importance to economic development and actively supports the company's salt lake development, hoping to take the development of Zabuye Salt Lake as a benchmark project to promote the construction of" Lithium City "in Xigaze."

It is understood that Tibet Mining Industry plans to continue to increase production capacity (grade 50-70% lithium concentrate) in the original solar pond of Phase I of Zabuye Salt Lake; the EPC+O contract for the second phase of 12000 tons of lithium carbonate project has entered preliminary preparatory work and is expected to start in April 2022 and put into production in September 2023. In addition, the company has signed a 100-ton lithium hydroxide pilot test contract with Jiuwu Hi-Tech. After the pilot test is successful, the following consideration will be given to the construction of a 10,000-ton lithium hydroxide project.

At present, the main salt lakes planned or produced in Tibet are Zabuye Salt Lake, Ali Longmu Co, and Geze Chaka Salt Lake, of which Zabuye Salt Lake has the best resource endowment. Tibet Mining directly holds a 50.72% stake in Xigaze Zabuye Lithium Company, the main body of the project, while Tianqi Lithium Industry (002466.SZ) and 002594.SZ (BYD) are the second and third largest shareholders, respectively, with a shareholding ratio of 20% and 18% respectively. Tibet Chengtou sits on Ali Longmu Cuo and Jieze Chaka Salt Lake.

However, it is worth noting that the extraction of lithium from salt lake is a "one-lake, one-lake process". Even if the construction is completed, there is still the possibility of further technological transformation due to failure to reach the expected production capacity, and most of the Salt Lake District in Tibet is located in the alpine zone, with difficult construction conditions and insufficient infrastructure, and the project is more difficult.

The above-mentioned people further said that if the Tibetan salt lake is included in the key construction projects of Tibet's 14th five-year Plan, it will undoubtedly promote the salt lake in Tibet, but large-scale development still depends on the breakthrough in lithium extraction technology from salt lake. we can focus on the production capacity construction and slope climbing process of the planned projects.