To stimulate technological development of extracting lithium from lepidolite

Asian Metal: Mr. Li, would you like to give us a brief introduction about your company?

Li: We own an annual production capacity of 10,000t of industrial grade lithium carbonate now and our second phase project, of which annual capacities for battery grade lithium carbonate and battery grade lithium hydroxide are 8,000t and 5,000t respectively, will be finished construction in mid-2018. Our company advocates the culture of pragmatism, high efficiency, high quality, and reciprocity and our major administrators have worked for several decades in important positions of famous non-ferrous metal enterprises. Our company aims to become the largest enterprise which extracts lithium carbonate from lepidolite in the world and to be listed as major suppliers for upstream materials of new energy materials worldwide.

Asian Metal: Spodumene is the major raw material for lithium salts currently and the method about extracting lithium from lepidolite and salt lake is not so commonly used as that extracts lithium from spodumene. We know that your company is located in Yichun where the resources for lepidolite are rich and the lithium industry develops rapidly. Can you tell us the development plan of your company and something about your major client groups?

Li: As you mentioned just now, there are rich lepidolite resources in Yichun, which is called the capital of lithium in Asia and plays an important role in the development of new energy industry, on which the central government attaches great importance. Yichun owns a national grade of industrial park of lithium battery and the provincial and county level governments pay attention to the development of lithium battery industry there and enterprises which extract lithium from lepidolite. That is to say, there are many advantages in developing lithium industry in Yichun.

We plan to take into full consideration of local condition and enter international markets. In terms of resources, we will establish the stable and sustainable cooperation with Yichun Tantalum and Niobium Mine (414), one of leading suppliers for lepidolite concentrate in Yichun, as well as nearby concentrate producing areas, actively conduct mining by ourselves and look for high-quality lepidolite resources in other regions. We will try our best to make the industrial chain of extracting lithium from lepidolite stronger and bigger, which means that we will become a leading enterprise to extract lithium from lepidolite within 3 years and have a place in the whole supply system of lithium salt. Processing enterprises for lithium manganate, low-end ternary material and high-purity lithium carbonate will remain be our major clients in following months as industrial grade lithium carbonate will continue to be our main product. Since we go into production in early September, many major companies within the industry such as CATL, L & F of South Korea, Ningbo Jinhe and Changyuan Lico have come to know the actual production and operation condition of us and to make initial discussion about subsequent cooperation with us. Here we want to take Asian Metal as a platform to say thanks for these excellent enterprises within this industry as they have offered us many supports and help. We plan to finish the debugging to produce battery grade lithium carbonate before the end of 2017 and to be chosen by mainstream cathode materials producers in China as suppliers as soon as possible.

Asian Metal: As we all know that you have rich experience in extracting lithium from lepidolite, would you like to let us know the method of your company in extracting lithium?

Li: Extracting lithium from spodumene, which has formed a traditional set of technique so far, is the main source to extract lithium carbonate from ores with mainstream consumption of 8t of spodumene to produce 1t of lithium carbonate. There are many methods to extract lithium from lepidolite and all of them are not very difficult, but many enterprises have focused on the operation of capitals with no enterprises realizing mass production of lithium using lepidolite as raw material. We use the low-temperature double salt roasting method to produce lithium now and it has many advantages such as low consumption, suitable for mass production and environmental protection. Nevertheless, there are still many shortcomings for our company which need to learn more from other elite companies and to make more efforts to do well in extracting lithium carbonate from lepidolite.

Asian Metal: I learned that your company has just gone into production since August and the supply in the Chinese lithium slat market is tight currently due to environmental protection problems. As a new supplier for lithium salts, what’s your opinion about the current market? Do you have invested in environmental protection accordingly?

Li: The increased price for lithium carbonate in China currently is attributable to the environmental protection to some extent. Our company has invested a large amount of capitals in environmental protection and the production technology of roasting double salt is environmental-friendly. Yichun is a beautiful city and the cardinal virtue for an entrepreneur is to protect our common home. Environmental protection and safety production are two most important things of our company. We will continue to invest in environmental protection in the future and try to strengthen the comprehensive usage for by-products at the same of realizing zero discharge. We will sternly undertake all responsibilities of an entrepreneur to our society.

Asian Metal: The production capacity of lithium salts producers is larger in China now and the supply for spodumene, the raw material, is sufficient; the only problem is that the capacity of lithium salts is not released on a large scale. What do you think of the market outlook?

Li: Affected by the continuously increasing demand from downstream cathode material industry, the market outlook for lithium salts is promising. In fact, domestic lithium salts producers have released their capacities successively; with overseas spodumene resources entering the Chinese market constantly, the actual output and running capacity of Tianqi Lithium, Ganfeng Lithium, Ruifu Lithium are increasing continually; the production capacity in extracting lithium from salt lake in South Africa and Qinghai of China is also rising continuously. Although the capacity for lithium salt can’t be released instantly, we think that the supply in the market and the demand from downstream industries would go up in the future.

Asian Metal: Prices for lithium carbonate have increased rapidly since April due to the equipment maintenance of Tianqi Lithium in Zhangjiagang; however, prices for downstream batteries haven’t risen. How will you face this challenge? Are there some methods to control costs?

Li: The rapidly increased price for lithium carbonate is favorable for lithium carbonate producers in short term, but it’s bad for the healthy and sustainable development of the whole new energy industry. As a new company in new energy industry, we don’t have rich experience in marketing, but we hope that we can operate our company with a cautious and pragmatic attitude and emphasize every detail in operation, the development of our team and the maintenance of good relationship with our suppliers and clients. As for the control of costs, we will handle every production detail which can save costs, train our staff for more effective work and invest continuously in research and innovation of technology in order to keep our company in a healthy development state in the long run.

Asian Metal: New energy power vehicle market shows an optimistic outlook. How about the future plan of your company, an important supplier for raw material?

Li: We produce industrial grade lithium carbonate currently and will upgrade to produce battery grade lithium carbonate before the end of 2017. Our daily running capacity is 20t now and will reach 30t before November; next year our group company plans to add the capacity to 36,000tpy which is calculated based on lepidolite resources owned by Jinhui Lithium at present. We will further acquire miners and cooperate with overseas miners in order to integrate resources and realize integrated procedures from lepidolite ore production line to lithium carbonate production line.

Asia Metal: Thank you for accepting the interview of Asian Metal. We wish your company a better future!