On June 17, Yahua Group (002497) announced that it would establish Yahua Lithium Group to coordinate and integrate various resources within the group's lithium industry, fully leverage the business strengths of each subsidiary, focus more on the development of the lithium industry, improve the group's resource synergy efficiency, reduce costs across the business chain, and promote the rapid and high-quality development of Yahua's lithium industry.
The announcement revealed that Yahua Group would use its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sichuan Yahua Lithium Technology Co., Ltd., as a platform, which would be renamed "Yahua Lithium Group". The equity interests of five subsidiaries involved in lithium-related businesses would be transferred to Yahua Lithium Group free of charge.
The five aforementioned companies are Yahua Lithium (Ya'an) Co., Ltd., Ganzi Guangsheng Mining Co., Ltd., Sichuan State Lithium Lithium Materials Co., Ltd., Sichuan Pude Technology Group Co., Ltd., and Sichuan Energy Investment Lithium Industry Co., Ltd.
According to available information, Yahua Group, founded in 1952, is one of the earliest chemical enterprises established after the founding of New China. It currently has two major businesses: lithium and civil explosives. Yahua Civil Explosives is an advanced industrial group in China's civil explosives industry. Leveraging its rich experience in chemical production and mining accumulated over 70 years, and in line with the national new energy industry development trend, the group entered the lithium industry in 2014, specializing in the exploration, mining, manufacturing, R&D, sales, and trading of lithium resource products.
Battery.com.cn noted that Yahua Group also mentioned during a recent institutional survey that the company is advancing the "Phase III High-Grade Lithium Battery New Energy Materials Production Line Construction Project" at Ya'an Lithium. In 2024, it completed and commissioned a 30,000 mt lithium carbonate production line. Currently, it is constructing a 30,000 mt lithium hydroxide production line. It is expected that by the end of 2025, the company's comprehensive lithium chemicals production capacity will reach nearly 130,000 mt.
In terms of lithium resources, Yahua Group has currently established a diversified channel layout combining self-controlled mines and externally purchased ore, forming a stable lithium resource guarantee system. Regarding self-controlled mines, the company's Phase I and Phase II projects at the Kamativi lithium mine in Zimbabwe were fully completed in 2024, currently capable of processing 2.3 million mt of raw ore annually. Products have been successively shipped back to China for production. Additionally, the company has obtained priority supply rights by acquiring a stake in the Sichuan Lijiagou lithium mine. Regarding externally purchased ore, the company has secured lithium ore off-take rights through long-term agreements with resources such as Pilbara in Australia, DMCC in Africa, and Atlas in Brazil. These lithium resources can meet the production needs of the company's lithium chemicals production capacity.
In terms of customers, Yahua Group's lithium chemicals customers primarily sign long-term agreements. International customers include enterprises such as TESLA, LGES, LGC, SK On, and Panasonic, while domestic customers include enterprises such as CATL, Zhenhua, Xiamen Tungsten, Reshine, and Minmetals New Energy. As of 2024, the revenue from the company's top customers accounted for 90%. Currently, the proportion of orders from overseas customers remains relatively high.
