The return of the King of Lithium in Salt Lake! It rose more than 306% on the first day of the resumption of listing.

The fierce competition for lithium salt resources in the industry is still intensifying. On August 10, stepping on the strongest tuyere of the new energy lithium battery industry, the "Salt Lake Lithium Emperor" returned strongly, triggering an A-share "nuclear bomb" explosion.

On the same day, Salt Lake shares, which had been closed for more than a year, resumed trading, rising 388.12% in the first minute of trading and triggering a temporary suspension. Its share price moves like a mushroom cloud, soaring up into the sky. As of 09:31, Salt Lake shares were trading at 43.15 yuan, with a market capitalization of 234.4 billion yuan.

However, Salt Lake has suffered huge losses. Financial report data show that Salt Lake shares continued to lose money from 2017 to 2019, losing as much as 45.86 billion yuan in 2019, becoming the A-share "loss king" of that year and the ST Salt Lake of "wearing stars and wearing the moon". Later, after bankruptcy restructuring, Salt Lake divested its lossmaking assets and did not make a profit until 2020.

From the original delisting edge to the current capital market carnival, the reason why Salt Lake shares changed their lives is lithium salt.

In fact, this year's salt lake lithium plate can be said to be extremely hot. The shares of Ganfeng Lithium and Tianqi Lithium, the two leading lithium salts, have risen more than fivefold in the past year, while Yahua Group has also tripled in a year, while Jiangte Motor, which was once a ST, has seen its share price rise more than tenfold in a year.

01 Salt Lake Lithium extraction to meet the "inflection Point of industrialization"

At present, lithium has become a strategic resource that the whole world is competing for. Statistics show that in 2020, the global lithium reserves are about 21 million tons of metal (111.3 million tons of lithium carbonate equivalent), compared with 7.95 million tons of lithium carbonate in China (accounting for 7%). Domestic lithium resources are mainly concentrated in salt lakes, accounting for more than 70 percent of the total, including about 3.1 million tons in Qinghai and 2.22 million tons in Tibet.

In the field of salt lake lithium resources, Salt Lake shares belong to the unyielding "king". Salt Lake owns Chaerhan Salt Lake, the largest soluble potassium magnesium salt deposit in China, with potassium chloride reserves of about 540 million tons and lithium chloride reserves of about 8 million tons. In 2020, Salt Lake produced a total of 13602 tons of lithium carbonate, an increase of 2300 tons over the same period last year. The company's indirect holding subsidiary Qinghai Lanke Lithium Industry Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Lanke Lithium Industry") has an annual production capacity of 10,000 tons of lithium carbonate.

Salt Lake said that in the field of lithium business, the company has formed a set of industrial demonstration equipment with the coupling of adsorption lithium extraction and membrane separation and concentration technology. Lanke Lithium Industry 20,000 tons / year battery-grade lithium carbonate project part of the equipment has been put into commissioning, this year will all be put into operation, lithium plate gradually put into operation. At the same time, the preparation and procedures for the construction of the 30,000-ton battery-grade lithium carbonate project jointly operated by the company and BYD have been basically completed.

"adsorbents are also independently produced by Lanke lithium industry, the loss of adsorbents can be controlled within 10%, and the independently produced adsorbents can fully meet the needs of 10,000 tons of industrial grade and 20,000 tons of battery-level devices." Lanke lithium industry responsible person said that the adsorbent technology is the core technology for the production of lithium carbonate, has obtained the national technology patent.

At present, after years of unremitting efforts in the industry, lithium extraction from salt lakes in China has ushered in a large-scale industrialization inflection point, and the average cost of the industry has gradually dropped to 30,000 yuan to 60,000 yuan / ton. Citic Securities said that the low-cost, low-carbon, green and integrated advantages of the salt lake lithium extraction route give it stronger growth and higher certainty.

02 "the place that the soldiers must compete for"

Huaan Securities said that in view of the huge reserves of lithium resources in the domestic salt lake, it may become a "battleground" for many lithium power-related companies in the future. In fact, in order to seize lithium salt resources, battery giants such as Ningde era and BYD have gathered in dense areas of salt lakes such as Qinghai and Tibet.

According to Battery China, Ningde era set up a subsidiary Qinghai era in Qinghai as early as 2011 when it was founded. A person in charge of Qinghai Times said that the quality of lithium carbonate produced by extracting lithium from salt lakes is almost the same as that produced by extracting lithium from ores. "from the point of view of the current products, there is no problem with the salt lake lithium extraction technology, and we also purchase cathode materials for the production of salt lake lithium extraction products."

The pace of "competitor" BYD is a little late. At the end of December 2017, BYD and Salt Lake said in an announcement that they would set up a joint venture Qinghai Salt Lake BYD Resources Development Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Salt Lake BYD"), with 49.5% of Salt Lake shares and 49% of BYD shares. The joint venture company will build a new battery-grade lithium carbonate project with an annual production capacity of 30, 000 tons per year, with a total investment of 4.849 billion yuan.

According to relevant sources, BYD's new project in Salt Lake is expected to use new technology based on adsorption. However, due to some procedures and process routes and other problems, the project has not been able to start, and now the preliminary difficulties have been basically solved, and it should be able to start in 2022.

In addition to the power battery duo Ningde era and BYD, other second-tier lithium giants also began to move westward to "treasure hunt". Yiwei LiNeng announced on July 12 that it would transfer 5 per cent of Dahua Chemical to 110 million yuan and acquire 28.125 per cent of Jin Kunlun Lithium, a subsidiary of Dahua Chemical, for 140 million yuan. While Dahua Chemical enjoys the mining rights of Dachaidan Salt Lake, which shows that Yiwei LiNeng is committed to upstream resources.

It is worth noting that in May this year, the people's Government of Qinghai Province held a domestic expert review meeting on the Plan and Action Plan for the Construction of a World-class Salt Lake Industrial Base, which formulated the general idea for the high-quality development of the salt lake industry. by 2025, 2030 and 2035, Qinghai's lithium product production capacity will reach 150000 tons, 180000 tons and 200000 tons respectively, building a world-class lithium industry base.

Zheng Mianping, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, once said that the practice of over-reliance on imported lithium resources is to "beg for food with a golden rice bowl." there are still great prospects for the development of China's lithium resources, and it is necessary to strengthen exploration and research to find out the family background. From the point of view of economic and environmental friendliness, he suggested that emphasis should be placed on the exploration of salt lake type and deep brine type lithium resources.

Salt Lake is a huge treasure for China's lithium battery industry, which must be well developed and utilized. Behind the return of Salt Lake shares, which has caused a huge response in the market, the industry is eager for and attaches great importance to China's lithium salt resources, and the further maturity of salt lake lithium extraction technology will play a huge role in ensuring the security and stability of China's lithium resources supply.