On May 16, according to Qinghai Daily, the first meeting of the leading group for the preparation of the action plan for building a world-class salt lake industry base was held in Xining, where they reviewed and discussed the "Action Plan for Building a World-class Salt Lake Industry Base (First Draft)" )》.
It is reported that the leading group for the preparation of the action plan will hold a domestic expert demonstration meeting for the "Action Plan" in Beijing on May 20 to listen to the opinions of well-known academicians and experts and scholars in the field of domestic salt lakes on the "Action Plan (First Draft)" 》Evaluate and modify specific opinions to ensure that the action plan is more scientific, forward-looking and operable.
Although the action plan has not yet been formally finalized, lithium extraction from salt lakes has once again become a hot topic of market concern.
On May 18th and 19th, related concept stocks surged in the A-share market. Lanxiao Technology surged 17.57% on the 18th, and Keda Manufacturing, Jiuwu High-tech, and Zangge Holdings all rose by their daily limits. BYD, Ganfeng Lithium, and Tibet Mining also experienced sharp gains.
As the electric vehicle market continues to explode, "lithium", known as "white petroleum" as the core raw material of power batteries, has become particularly important. However, due to differences in resources and technical inadequacies, Although my country has relatively high lithium reserves, its level of development is not high and it relies heavily on foreign imports of lithium raw materials.
At a time when the supply of lithium raw materials is in short supply and prices continue to rise due to geopolitics, rising demand and other factors, based on the gradually optimized "salt lake lithium extraction" technology, the establishment of Qinghai's world-class salt lake base is expected to make my country has achieved self-sufficiency in lithium raw materials.
This will bring advantages to companies that have previously made plans in the field of salt lake lithium extraction, including companies with salt lake resources and salt lake lithium extraction technology, as well as industry chains that have launched in-depth cooperation with these companies. Related companies.
"Lithium extraction from salt lakes" has become a topic of market concern because it is expected to reverse the situation that has long been suppressed by "lithium extraction from mines" in my country.
"Lithium extraction" does not extract lithium element, but extracts it into lithium salts such as lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide. High-purity lithium salts can be processed by lithium battery raw material companies into battery cathode materials such as lithium iron phosphate and ternary lithium and sold to battery companies.
Currently, there are two types of lithium resources that can be developed and utilized globally, one is salt lake brine lithium, and the other is rock lithium ore, of which salt lake brine lithium accounts for about 70% of the total resources. , lithium ore accounts for about 30%.
The larger proportion of reserves makes lithium extraction from salt lakes have better economies of scale. Salt lake lithium extraction technology has been developed since the 1970s. In the 1990s, foreign companies achieved breakthroughs in brine lithium extraction technology, making the production cost of lithium carbonate much lower than that of ore lithium extraction.
However, although lithium extraction from salt lakes has cost advantages, the technology to extract high-purity battery-grade lithium carbonate is difficult. In contrast, the technology to extract lithium from lithium ore is mature and the purity of lithium extraction is higher.
In 2020, the global production of lithium extracted from salt lakes accounted for 46%, and the production of lithium extracted from lithium ore accounted for more than half. This is in sharp contrast with the proportion of the two resources. contrast.
And this contrast is even more obvious in our country. Salt lake types account for 80% of my country's proven lithium resources, 90% of which are distributed in the two major lake areas of Qinghai and Tibet.
my country’s lithium resources are not scarce. According to USGS (United States Geological Survey) statistics, as of the end of 2019, China’s lithium reserves/resources were 1 million/4.5 million tons respectively, ranking 4th/in the world. 6, belonging to the second tier.
However, because most of my country’s lithium resources are of the salt lake type, and the salt lakes are of low grade (low lithium content and many impurities), the lithium extraction technology is immature and the cost of lithium extraction is much higher than abroad.
The cost of lithium extraction from salt lakes in my country in the early days was as high as 60,000-80,000 yuan/ton LCE (lithium carbonate equivalent), which was much higher than the cost of 20,000 yuan/ton LCE abroad, and even exceeded the cost of lithium extraction in some mines.
Based on this situation, although my country has a huge demand for lithium raw materials, most of it relies on imports. In 2019, my country's basic lithium salt smelting capacity accounted for 71% of global production capacity, and lithium salt shipments accounted for 49% of global consumption, but the output of raw materials accounted for only 9.7%.
At the same time, my country's current lithium salt production still uses ore as the main raw material source. In 2019, domestic lithium carbonate production was approximately 159,000 tons, of which lithium carbonate extracted from ore accounted for 78.6%, while lithium carbonate extracted from salt lakes accounted for only 21.4%; lithium hydroxide output was 76,000 tons, almost all of which was spodumene concentrate. as raw materials.
With the release of the plan for Qinghai’s world-class salt lake production base, the speed of lithium extraction from my country’s salt lakes is obviously accelerating, and this is due to the superposition of multiple factors such as technology and demand.
First of all, the optimization of lithium extraction technology has continuously reduced the cost of lithium extraction from salt lakes.
As mentioned earlier, the grade of lithium salt lakes in my country is low, mainly because the "magnesium-lithium ratio" of my country's salt lakes is significantly higher than overseas. As the main technical reference data for lithium extraction from salt lakes, the lower the "magnesium-lithium ratio", the more conducive to lithium extraction. The magnesium-lithium ratio of Qinghai Salt Lake is generally higher than 60, and the Qalhan Salt Lake is as high as 1577. In comparison, The magnesium-lithium ratio in South American salt lakes is below 20.
However, in the past few years, many domestic companies have realized low-cost methods of extracting lithium from high magnesium to lithium ratio salt lakes through technological optimization, such as the high magnesium to lithium ratio separation technology of Minmetals Salt Lake, Lanxiao Technology's adsorption separation technology, Jiuwu Hi-Tech's dialysis membrane separation technology, etc.
At present, the cost of lithium extraction technology from salt lakes, mainly based on adsorption method and dialysis membrane, has dropped from the previous extraction cost of 60,000 to 80,000 yuan for calcination and extraction methods to about 35,000 yuan. Lanke Lithium The industry’s lithium extraction cost has now dropped to 30,000 yuan/ton.
On the other hand, the demand for lithium raw materials, especially lithium carbonate, is getting stronger and stronger, which has accelerated the pace of lithium extraction from salt lakes to cope with the shortage of raw materials.
In November last year, the price of lithium carbonate was still at 40,000 yuan/ton, but then the price kept rising due to rising demand. The current price of battery-grade lithium carbonate is 87,000 yuan to 91,000 yuan/ton. tons, more than doubled.
This is related to the rebound in demand for lithium iron phosphate batteries. As subsidies for new energy vehicles continue to decline, the proportion of lower-cost lithium iron phosphate batteries in installed capacity has begun to rise, with a growth rate exceeding that of ternary lithium batteries.
In April this year, my country's power battery installed capacity was 8.4Gwh, a year-on-year increase of 97.3%; lithium iron phosphate battery installed capacity was 3.2GWh, a year-on-year increase of 244.5%. Lithium carbonate is the main raw material for the production of lithium iron phosphate, and lithium extraction from salt lakes is the main method for extracting lithium carbonate.
The focus on lithium extraction from salt lakes is also closely related to current geopolitics.
As mentioned earlier, my country’s current lithium raw materials mainly come from overseas lithium ores, with imports accounting for more than 70%, of which about 50% comes from Australia, which has high-quality lithium mines.
At present, the total designed production capacity of Australian mines is 3.425 million tons of lithium concentrate/year. It is the world's largest producer of hard rock lithium resources and the world's largest supplier of lithium resources.
The current relationship between China and Australia is not clear. In April this year, the Australian federal government unilaterally tore up the "Belt and Road" agreement between Victoria and China, and subsequently canceled multiple cooperation agreements with China and adopted a series of tough policies towards China.
On May 6, China’s National Development and Reform Commission issued a brief statement, officially announcing the indefinite suspension of the China-Australia Strategy jointly led by the National Development and Reform Commission and relevant departments of the Australian federal government. All activities under the economic dialogue mechanism.
China is Australia’s largest exporter, and ore resources account for the largest proportion of Australia’s exports to China. Suspension of economic dialogue means China’s future ore imports and Chinese companies’ access to Australian mines. Investment will be subject to considerable restrictions.
The combination of multiple factors means that the pace of lithium extraction from salt lakes in my country needs to be rapidly accelerated to achieve effective self-supply of raw materials and ensure the competitive advantage of enterprises.
The combination of multiple factors has attracted much attention to the extraction of lithium from domestic salt lakes, and the companies that have also attracted much attention following the concept of lithium extraction this time do not just have "concepts".
Lanxiao Technology, which leads the A-share market, is the leader in adsorption resin materials in China. As mentioned earlier, adsorption method is currently the mainstream salt lake lithium extraction technology.
The adsorption method has obvious advantages in dealing with salt lakes with high magnesium and lithium ratios. Many listed companies, including Lanxiao Technology and Jiuwu High-Tech, are currently providing specially synthesized adsorption separation materials and integrated system devices to salt lake companies. and other integrated solutions.
Currently, Lanxiao Technology owns multiple salt lake lithium extraction projects and is a leading company in this field. Including the 10,000-ton adsorption unit of the Zangge project, the 3,000-ton complete line operation of the Jintai project, and the 1,000-ton technical transformation of the Minmetals project, different solutions can be provided for medium, high, and low grade brine.
Lan Xiao Technology This type of company certainly serves resource-based companies. This is another type of company that has attracted much attention this time, including Zangge Holdings, Tibet Mining, etc.
Among them, Zangge Holdings owns the development rights of Qalhan Salt Lake in Qinghai. Lanke Lithium also owns the development rights of the salt lake. Among the shareholders of Lanke Lithium are listed companies ST Salt Lake and Made by Keda.
Among them, ST Salt Lake is the controlling shareholder of Lanke Lithium Industry, and Keda Manufacturing is the participating shareholder. ST Salt Lake was once the "King of Potash Fertilizer" Salt Lake Shares. However, due to the failure of subsequent large-scale diversified investment projects, losses reached 45.8 billion yuan in 2019. At the same time, due to negative net profits for three consecutive years since 2017, 2020 In May of this year, it was banned from listing.
Following Qinghai this time, Tibet, which has considerable lithium salt lake resources, is also popular. Tibet Mining and Tibet Everest also have the right to develop Tibetan lithium salt lakes.
Tibet’s salt lake resources are mainly concentrated in the western Tibet region, including Zabuye Salt Lake, Jieze Chaka and Longmu Co Salt Lake. They are mainly carbonic acid and sulfuric acid salt lakes.
Among them, Zabuye Salt Lake is the third largest lithium mineral salt lake in the world in terms of resources and the largest in Asia. The proven lithium reserves are 1.841 million tons LCE, and the resource endowment is extremely excellent, containing lithium. The concentration is 11290 mg/L, ranking second in the world after Chile's Atacama Salt Lake. The magnesium-lithium ratio is only 0.05, the lowest in the world. It has the characteristics of natural solid lithium carbonate resources, high lithium, poor magnesium, and rich lithium carbonate. Tibet Mining currently has exclusive mining rights in Zabuye.
Vehicle manufacturers like BYD and lithium salt finishing companies such as Ganfeng Lithium Industry also cooperate with resource-based companies based on the technology of extracting lithium from salt lakes to control upstream raw materials.
As early as 2017, BYD cooperated with Salt Lake Co., Ltd. to establish Qinghai Salt Lake BYD Resource Development Co., Ltd. According to BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu, BYD has made a major breakthrough in the preparation technology of salt lake lithium adsorbent. Mastering the preparation technology of lithium adsorbent for extracting lithium from salt lake brine is the key to commercial lithium extraction from salt lakes.
However, as mentioned above, after Yanhu shares were blocked due to subsequent huge losses, the current 30,000-ton battery-grade lithium carbonate project with BYD has not officially started construction.
Of course, ST Salt Lake has currently divested its loss-making business and retained the highly profitable lithium carbonate business. The 2020 financial report shows that in 2020, the company achieved revenue of 14.016 billion yuan and net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of 2.04 billion yuan, an increase of 104.45% over the previous year, significantly turning losses into profits.
After being suspended from listing for nearly a year, on April 8, *ST Salt Lake submitted a written application to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange for resumption of listing, and is currently waiting for review.
Ganfeng Lithium Industry can also take advantage of the concept to take off, and it is also preparing to use its technology to extract lithium from salt lakes.
On March 8 this year, Ganfeng Lithium Industry announced that the company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries will acquire 100% of the equity of Yili Hongda Jiye Equity Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership), which holds Minmetals Salt Lake Co., Ltd. has a 49% stake, thereby indirectly owning the equity in the Qaidam Yiliping Lithium Salt Lake Project in Qinghai Province.
On the investor interaction platform in early May this year, Ganfeng Lithium also stated that the company had mastered the technology of lithium extraction from salt lakes very early and now has its own technical team and patents.
At present, the construction of salt lake lithium extraction base is still in the preliminary stage. However, based on the important strategic position of lithium raw materials and the optimization of technology, salt lake lithium extraction is a major trend in the acquisition of lithium raw materials in my country, and the layout is earlier. , Enterprises with more technical reserves can have more advantages in future industry competition.