Huaan Securities: technological Progress promotes Lithium extraction from Salt Lake under the background of self-controllable Lithium Resources

Lithium extraction from salt lake has the advantages of both resources and cost, high proportion of resources and low cost.

The total amount of global lithium resources is between 3190 and 51.9 million tons, which is distributed in brine and ore, of which brine lithium resources account for 62.60%. Compared with using ore as raw material to produce lithium salt, using brine as raw material to produce lithium salt has the advantages of low energy consumption and low cost, and the comprehensive cost can be saved by 30% to 50%. Brine lithium resources are mainly distributed in South America "lithium triangle" Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, accounting for nearly 80% of the global share; and China's Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region, the share is 12%.

The ratio of magnesium to lithium in domestic salt lakes is generally on the high side, which breeds a variety of lithium extraction technologies according to local conditions. South American salt lakes are mainly precipitated with low magnesium and lithium ratio; one lake, one strategy, different lakes choose different routes according to different conditions.

In China, except for the Zabuye Salt Lake in Tibet, the ratio of magnesium to lithium in the salt lake is generally high, so selective extraction methods such as ion exchange adsorption and membrane separation are needed to better realize the separation of magnesium and lithium and the enrichment of lithium ions. At present, lithium extraction from salt lakes in China mainly adopts ion exchange adsorption method, solvent extraction method, membrane separation method, calcination leaching method, solar pool method and electrochemical method. The environmental protection cost of ion exchange adsorption and membrane separation is lower, and the use of adsorbents, nanofiltration membranes or electrodialysis membranes can selectively enrich lithium ions, which is better, but there are bottlenecks in improving the performance of adsorbents and nanofiltration membranes. the problems of high energy consumption and high maintenance cost of electrodialysis membrane, the future development direction is mainly the research and development of high-performance adsorption separation materials and the simplification of technological process. The endowment advantage of low mg / Li ratio in South American salt lake determines the technological process based on precipitation method.

Investment suggestion

Under the background of self-controllable lithium resources, and based on the cost and resource advantages of lithium extraction from salt lakes, on the one hand, it is suggested that companies that pay attention to the distribution of salt lake resources, on the other hand, they should pay attention to companies that can choose appropriate technical routes according to local conditions to stabilize the production of lithium carbonate. and companies that continue to expand production and reduce costs. It is suggested to pay attention to Koda Manufacturing (improvement of the main operation of ceramic machinery, participation in the domestic salt lake lithium extraction leader Lanke lithium industry, stable output and low-cost expansion), salt lake shares (potash fertilizer business is improving, Lanke lithium industry parent company, Owns the main mining rights of Chaerhan Salt Lake), Zang GE Holdings (relying on Chaerhan Salt Lake to produce potash fertilizer and lithium carbonate), Ganfeng lithium industry (leading lithium industry), Tianqi lithium industry (distribution of high-quality salt lake resources), Tibet Mining (Zabuye Salt Lake mining), Lanxiao Technology (integrated service provider of adsorption and separation technology).

Risk hint

The development of new energy vehicles and energy storage is not as expected; the spread of the epidemic affects the salt lake mining process; the salt lake lithium extraction technology industrialization process is not as expected.