Competition for Lithium Resources Intensifies

SHANGHAI, May 26 (SMM) - Recently, it was reported that Huayou Cobalt plans to invest 300 million yuan to develop the Arcadia lithium mine in Zimbabwe and build a processing plant with an annual processing capacity of 4.5 million mt and an annual output of 400,000 mt of lithium concentrate.

Huayou Cobalt said in a statement on Tuesday that it intends to rapidly develop the lithium project within the next year. According to public information, in late April, Huayou Cobalt officially completed the acquisition of 100% stake in the Arcadia lithium mine in Zimbabwe. According to the previous announcement, the Arcadia project has  resources of 1.9 million mt of lithium carbonate equivalent and a lithium oxide grade of 1.06%, and has good prospecting prospects. Under the condition of annual payment, the validity period of mining rights is unlimited.

According to the previous feasibility study report of the project, the Arcadia lithium mine project has a construction period of 2 years and a production period of 18 years. At present, the project has obtained the EIA certificate for development and construction.

Huayou Cobalt said that after rapid development in the next year, the Arcadia lithium mine is expected to produce the first batch of spodumene and castorite in 2023.

Recently, there has been a lot of news about lithium mines. According to the latest data from the International Energy Agency, by 2030, there will be about a 50% gap in global lithium demand based on existing and under-construction lithium ore projects.

 Last weekend, the auction of a 54.2857% stake in Dechelongba lithium mine in Sichuan was finalised at 2 billion yuan, a leap from its starting bid price of 3.3529 million yuan.

SMM believes that the results of this auction also reflect that the shortage of lithium resources has become an industry consensus, and the efforts of enterprises to ensure the supply of resources are gradually increasing. The price of Australian lithium miner Pilbara’s second auction of spodumene concentrate this year was finalised at $5,955/mt, up 5.4% from the previous auction on April 27. SMM understands that the price rise was due to expectations for demand recovery in Q3. The latest auction price may support lithium salt prices.