SMM April 8: on the evening of April 7, Jiangte Motor announced that the company plans to spend 2 billion yuan together with its wholly-owned subsidiary Jiangxi Jiangte Mining Development Co., Ltd. to build an annual lithium ore mining and separation project with an annual production capacity of 3 million tons and an annual output of 20, 000 tons of lithium salt in Yifeng, Jiangxi Province. At the same time, Jiangte Mining intends to sign an investment project contract with the people's Government of Yifeng County to jointly promote the construction of the project.
It is reported that the project is divided into two parts: a new lithium mining and separation project of no less than 3 million tons per year in Tongan Township, Yifeng County, and a new lithium salt project with an annual production capacity of 20, 000 tons in Yifeng Industrial Park. After the project is approved and has the conditions to start, it will be completed and put into production within 24 months and meet the production standards.
According to the announcement, Jiangte Motor has two mining rights and five exploration rights in Yichun area, holding or controlling more than 100 million tons of lithium ore resources. The company's mining area is mainly in Yifeng County, Yichun City, and its distribution is relatively concentrated. The investment in the construction of "mining and separation" integration and lithium salt processing project in Yifeng County is conducive to shortening the transportation mileage of raw materials and reducing operating costs.
At the same time, the application for "exploration and conversion" of Xikeng Lithium Mine is being examined and approved by the Ministry of Natural Resources, and the implementation of the project of mining 3 million tons of lithium ore and annual production of 20,000 tons of lithium salt in that year will help the company to make full use of its own resources and greatly improve its processing capacity, and will produce good economic and social benefits and promote the sustainable development of the company.
In addition, Jiangte Motor also said that the project is mainly to undertake and support the development and planning of the company's "Xikeng Exploration and Mining" project, and has no significant impact on the company's current operating performance. However, it will have a positive impact on the company's selection and rapid expansion of lithium salt production capacity, market competitiveness of lithium salt products and improvement of future business performance.
Recently, while many lithium salt companies have released their results in 2021, many enterprises have repeatedly expanded the layout of lithium mines and lithium salts.
On April 6th, Rio Tinto said it had obtained approval from relevant regulators to complete the acquisition of the Rincon lithium mine in Argentina for US $825 million. It is reported that the Rincon lithium mine is a large-scale undeveloped lithium brine project, located in the core area of the lithium triangle in Salta province, Argentina, and is a new hub of the greenfield project.
Rio Tinto expects demand for lithium to grow by 25-35 per cent a year over the next decade, and a significant gap between supply and demand is expected in the second half of the next decade. According to the latest data from the International Energy Agency, by 2030, only relying on existing and under construction lithium production projects, the world will have a lithium demand gap of about 50%.
The IEA also pointed out that lithium demand in 2040 could be 13 times higher than current levels, and the increase is expected to reach 51 times if all-solid-state batteries are commercialized quickly.
In addition to Rio Tinto, Ganfeng Lithium also announced on April 5 that it had decided to expand the MtMarion spodumene project and planned to expand the existing lithium concentrate to 900000 tons per year by the end of 2022.
In addition, on the evening of April 6th, Shengxin Lithium Energy also announced its additional investment in Chile's lithium industry. It is reported that Chile's lithium industry has 18 mining projects located in South America, including 12 salt lake brine projects in Chile with a total area of 688 square kilometers; a salt lake brine project in Argentina with a total area of 233square kilometers; and five gold, silver and copper projects with a total area of 204.29 square kilometers. Among them, the proven resources of Arizaro Salt Lake in Salta Province, Argentina is about 1.42 million tons of lithium carbonate equivalent, which currently accounts for 29% of the total area of mining rights. Chile's lithium industry plans to invest US $2 million within six months to further step up exploration efforts to expand resources.
Not only that, on the same day, Sheng Xin Li Neng also said that Sheng Yi International, a wholly owned Hong Kong-owned company, intends to subscribe for 3.7 million shares of Australian ABY at a total price of A $0.75 per share, totaling A $2.775 million (equivalent to about 13.36 million yuan at the current exchange rate). The company owns Ethiopia's Kenticha lithium mine (51 per cent).
It is reported that the Kenticha lithium mine has proven lithium resources of 67.4 million tons, and is further exploring and developing the confirmed mineralization, with a total resources ranging from 8000 to 110 million tons of lithium resources, equivalent to more than 1 million tons of Li2O. There is great potential for future growth of resources in the southern and northern reserved areas. The overall technical and operational team of Kenticha Lithium Mine comes from the former Galaxy Lithium Industry in Australia, and has a long-term and good cooperation with Shengxin Lithium Energy. The first phase of 200000 tons / year (equivalent to Li2CO3 equivalent 30, 000 tons / year) lithium concentrate is expected to start delivery in the second quarter of 2023, and the mine life is expected to exceed 18 years.
While subscribing for a stake in ABY, Shengxin LiNeng also signed an "off-take and sales agreement" with it. Under the agreement, ABY develops the Kenticha project in the southern Ethiopian state of Oromia and sells and delivers lithium concentrate products to Shengyi International. ABY will provide no less than 60, 000 tons of lithium concentrate in the first contract year, and 60, 000-80, 000 tons of lithium concentrate per year during the remaining contract year. The agreement is valid from the date ABY informed the company that the product was ready for shipment until December 31, 2025. Unless otherwise notified by ABY before the end date, the parties agree to automatically extend this Agreement for another 2 years from the end date. Moreover, if ABY has excess lithium concentrate in the future, both parties can provide Shengyi International with additional lithium concentrate on the terms agreed in writing.
Tianqi Lithium Industry, which has just become a member of Chile's National Mining Association, also admitted on the interactive platform today that the company's bases at home and abroad are in normal and orderly production operation, and production is in a state of saturation.
This is enough to see a large number of lithium industry chain enterprises' enthusiasm for lithium resources. Ping an Securities also pointed out recently that with the acceleration of policy and car companies, the penetration of new energy vehicles in the global market is ushering in a new round of acceleration, and the industry boom continues to rise. Thus it can be seen that the prosperity of the lithium industry remains the same.
However, under the previous price control, the price of lithium salt, which had been rising steadily, has now begun to adjust back. According to the spot price of SMM, as of April 8, the average spot price of domestic battery-grade lithium carbonate was 501500 yuan / ton, down 1000 yuan / ton from yesterday.
"Click to view the spot market of SMM new energy products.
For the reasons for the slight decline in lithium carbonate prices this week, SMM research shows that the supply side continues to increase, while downstream demand weakens and maintains a strong game state, where traders' prices continue to hit bottom, and some material factories have low-price selling inventories, resulting in a slight decline in lithium carbonate prices. "Click to view details
However, in the long run, SMM expects that the gap between supply and demand may reappear in May-June, supporting the price of lithium carbonate to continue to maintain a flat upward trend.
