China Minmetals and Qinghai State-Owned Assets join hands to build a "carrier" for the salt lake industry.
On February 8, the unveiling ceremony of China Salt Lake Industry Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "China Salt Lake") was held in Qinghai Province. Public information shows that China Salt Lake has a registered capital of 10 billion yuan, with China Minmetals holding 53% of the shares, and the Qinghai State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and Qinghai State-Owned Assets Investment Management Co., Ltd. jointly holding 47%. It oversees three enterprises: Qinghai Salt Lake Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Salt Lake Co."), Qinghai Huixin Asset Management Co., Ltd., and Minmetals Salt Lake Co., Ltd., with over 15,000 employees.
A relevant person in charge at China Minmetals stated that after the establishment of China Salt Lake Group, it will leverage Qinghai Province's unique salt lake resources, fully utilize China Minmetals' advantages in industry, talent, technology, and management, comprehensively enhance the level of integrated resource development and utilization, accelerate the pace of "going global," achieve green and efficient circular development of salt lake resources, and strengthen China's ability to secure potassium and lithium resources.
According to a reporter from the "Sci-Tech Innovation Board Daily," the establishment of China Salt Lake can be traced back to September 2024. At that time, China Minmetals and its subsidiaries signed an agreement with the Qinghai State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and Qinghai State-Owned Assets Investment Management Co., Ltd. to jointly establish China Salt Lake. China Salt Lake will acquire over 12% of the shares of the aforementioned Salt Lake Co., completing its acquisition of the latter.
According to an announcement by Salt Lake Co., the company's controlling shareholder changed on December 27, 2024, from the original Qinghai State Investment to China Salt Lake. China Salt Lake acquired over 680 million shares held by Qinghai State Investment and its concerted actor Wuhu Xinzhe Qinghe for more than 13.5 billion yuan, thereby becoming the controlling shareholder of Salt Lake Co., with a shareholding ratio of 12.87%.
Salt Lake Co. was listed on the A-share market in 1997 and currently has a market value exceeding 88 billion yuan. The company is located in Golmud City, Qinghai Province, which is currently the largest potash fertilizer industrial production site in China.
According to disclosures, China Salt Lake has an annual production capacity of 5.3 million mt of potash fertilizer, 58,000 mt of lithium chemicals, and 1 million mt of salt lake chemical products. The group's production sites include Qarhan Salt Lake, the largest soluble potash-magnesium salt deposit in China, and Yiliping Salt Lake, a large magnesium sulfate subtype salt deposit, with a mining area of nearly 4,060 square kilometers. Its large-scale production technologies for extracting potassium and lithium from salt lakes are world-leading.
China's lithium resources are primarily salt lake-based. Lithium is widely used in batteries, EVs, computers, nuclear industries, and optoelectronics. Lithium chemicals, as a critical raw material for new energy power batteries, have a promising market outlook, especially against the backdrop of the rapid development of the EV industry.
In agriculture, potash fertilizer is an indispensable and important fertilizer, essential for stable grain production and yield increases. It plays a crucial role in ensuring national food security, with global demand continuing to grow. Currently, domestic potash fertilizer capacity is mainly concentrated in Golmud, Qinghai, and Lop Nur, Xinjiang.
An analyst told the "Sci-Tech Innovation Board Daily" that potassium and lithium are critical strategic resources. One of the significances of establishing China Salt Lake lies in helping China secure a position in the global competition for strategic resources like lithium and potassium. Integrating multiple enterprises focused on the development and utilization of salt lake resources also marks an important step in central-local collaboration to build a salt lake industry "carrier" with international influence. China Salt Lake will form a large-scale comprehensive group company, which may have a profound impact on China's ability to secure potassium and lithium resources.
China Minmetals, which spearheaded the establishment of China Salt Lake, was founded in 1950. It is a central state-owned key enterprise directly managed by the central government, focusing on metal minerals as its core business and serving as a pilot enterprise for state-owned capital investment companies. Currently, China Minmetals has total assets exceeding 1.1 trillion yuan and owns eight publicly listed firms.
In the field of metal minerals, China Minmetals has abundant metal mineral resources, with 38 mines at home and abroad across Asia, Oceania, South America, and Africa. The company's metal portfolio covers over 70% of the strategic mineral catalog in China, with tungsten, crystalline graphite, and bismuth resources ranking among the top globally, and zinc, lead, antimony, chromium, and fluorite resources ranking in the global first tier.
According to data from the "CLCS Venture Capital," China Minmetals has invested in 24 projects, mainly involving large central state-owned enterprises and their mining subsidiaries, including Metallurgical Corporation of China Ltd., Guangyan International Investment Co., Ltd., China Salt Lake Industry Co., Ltd., and Minmetals (Beijing) Hardware Products Co., Ltd.
