Hydrometallurgical Recycling Market This Week:
Recycled Materials: This week, following the announcement of import/export restrictions by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), cobalt sulfate prices continued to rise, nickel sulfate prices remained stable, while lithium carbonate prices saw a minor rebound and fluctuated. The recovery rates for black mass like ternary and lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) remained flat this week, with the cobalt rate seeing a slight increase and the lithium rate continuing to decline. Currently, lithium point prices for lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode black mass range from 2,150 to 2,300 yuan per lithium point, while LFP battery black mass lithium points range from 1,950 to 2,100 yuan. Taking ternary black mass as an example: current nickel-cobalt recovery rates for ternary cathode black mass are 72-74%, with lithium recovery rates at 66-70%. Recovery rates for ternary battery black mass nickel-cobalt are 70-72%.
On the demand side, most hydrometallurgical plants processing ternary and LFP materials maintained stable purchasing volumes this month, mainly consuming existing inventory. Due to a persistently pessimistic market outlook on future lithium salt prices, buyers remained cautious in procuring black mass, resulting in continued subdued market transactions. On the supply side, black mass processing plants and traders showed some willingness to lower their asking prices, influenced by the ongoing decline in salt prices. Consequently, black mass prices generally followed the downward trend of salt prices, with market activity remaining sluggish.
Cost-wise, aside from leading integrated hydrometallurgical plants, most hydrometallurgical facilities are currently operating at a loss, particularly LFP hydrometallurgical plants which were significantly impacted by falling lithium salt prices. While profit margins at the black mass processing stage were slightly better than at the hydrometallurgical stage, some small and medium-sized processing plants also faced persistent negative margins.
