Sinomine Resource Group Plans to Expand Annual Capacity of Bikita Lithium Mine to 2 Million mt

SHANGHAI, Mar 30 (SMM) - Sinomine Resource Group announced that it intends to ramp up the production capacity of the existing 1.2 million mt/year reconstruction and expansion project of the Bikita lithium mine to 2 million mt/year, and use its own funds to increase the investment by 300 million yuan on the basis of the original investment of 360 million yuan. The total investment of the project increased to 664 million yuan.

According to the announcement, Sinomine Resource Group has completed the acquisition of 100% equity in the Bikita mine in Zimbabwe in 2022, and the total amount of lithium mineral resources in the east and west of the Bikita mine has reached 54.515 million mt, equivalent to 1.5605 million mt of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) .

It is reported that after the expansion, the annual capacity is expected to reach 412,000 mt of lithium concentrate.

The company is expected to further enhance the market scale and industry status of the lithium battery new energy raw material business, continuously enhance its core competitiveness, and continue to improve its sustainable development capabilities.

It is worth mentioning that recently, many lithium mining companies have successively released financial report data for 2022, and many lithium mining companies have benefited a lot amid the soaring prices of lithium carbonate. 

As we all know, since 2023, the prices of lithium carbonate has continued to fall. According to the SMM spot prices, the spot quotation of domestic battery-grade lithium carbonate has dropped to 245,000-269,000 yuan/mt, with an average price of 257,000 yuan/mt.

At the same time, with the vigorous development of the new energy automobile industry, countries are increasingly controlling lithium resources. According to the latest news on March 28, Japan and the United States have also reached a trade agreement on minerals related to clean energy technology, allowing minerals produced in Japan to meet the subsidy requirements of the US Electric Vehicle Act. The swiftly reached agreement prohibits both countries from imposing bilateral export restrictions on the most critical minerals for electric vehicle batteries, including lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite and manganese, according to senior Biden administration officials.

In addition, Pilbara said it would spend A$560 million ($375 million) to expand its plant in West Australia to boost annual production of spodumene to 1 million mt from the current 580,000 mt.