Thousands of dollars per day! Up for 35 consecutive weeks! Those who get 'lithium' get the future?

Lithium resources are auctioned and sold at high premiums or cause huge changes in the industry

Recently, in Australia, an unprecedented auction aroused the attention of all parties. The auctioneer was the Australian mining company Pilbara, and the transaction was 10,000 tons of spodumene concentrate. After three hours of intense and intense bidding, this batch of ore was sold at a price of US$1,250/ton, nearly double the market price.

It is understood that many Australian companies are also advancing the auction sales of Lithium concentrates, and the changes in game rules have further expanded the room for lithium prices. Professionals predict that the mainstream transaction price of lithium concentrate in the second half of the year will exceed US$1,200/ton. At present, the average price of imported spodumene concentrate in China has reached US$865/ton, an increase of over 116% this year.

The price of lithium ore in the upstream has skyrocketed, and the price of lithium battery materials in the midstream has also continued to hit new highs. Data show that on August 19, battery-grade lithium carbonate exceeded the average price of 100,000 CNY/ton for the first time this year. The average price of lithium oxide reached 114,000 CNY/ton, which has been rising for 35 consecutive weeks. At present, some lithium battery materials still maintain a daily growth of 1,000 yuan.

Zeng Shaojun, Professional Vice President and Secretary-General of the New Energy Chamber of Commerce of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, said: "Suddenly a rise of thousands of yuan is really rare. Overall, the demand for power batteries for new energy vehicles has grown rapidly, which directly drove the increase. The prices of upstream lithium ore and lithium compounds have soared."

China's lithium battery production capacity ranks first in the world, but the raw materials for lithium salt production rely on imports.

Zhang Jiangfeng, vice president of the Lithium Branch of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, said: "About 60% of us need to import spodumene concentrate from abroad as a raw material to produce lithium salt."

Recently, companies that have been deeply involved in the development of domestic salt lake lithium resources have begun to be sought after by the capital market. On August 10, the Salt Lake shares, which had been suspended due to substantial losses, resumed their listing. The stock price rose by more than 300% on the first day, and its closing market value was nearly 200 billion yuan.

Lin Rongyun, an analyst in the electric power new energy industry of the Huafu Securities Research Institute, believes that the huge downstream demand has led to a tension between the supply and demand of lithium resources. It will be difficult to improve the relationship between supply and demand in the next two to three years. Lithium extraction from domestic salt lakes is a powerful supplement to China's lithium resources in the future. .

Data show that since June, domestic companies related to salt lake lithium resource development, such as Tibet Everest, Tibet Mining, and Jiuwu Hi-Tech, have all doubled their share prices.

Auto giants are actively occupying "lithium"

The current biggest application scenario of lithium metal is the power battery of new energy vehicles. It is also one of the core resources of the global carbon neutral layout. The huge market prospects make lithium resources a fiercely pursued goal by all stakeholders.

On August 5, local time, US President Biden signed an executive order requiring that by 2030, new energy vehicles account for 50% of the country's total new car sales, and directly stated that he hopes to move the core supply chain back to the United States.

In response to this, some states in the United States are rapidly transforming and vying to develop the lithium mining industry. Arkansas was once an important oil-producing region in the United States. With the exhaustion of resources, it is gradually declining. Now the state may be revived due to abundant lithium deposits.

In North Carolina, the United States, in July this year, Piedmont Lithium Corporation submitted a mining plan to Gaston County; in addition, the American Lithium Corporation also announced in June that it will formally launch in early 2022. Lithium mining project in Nevada, USA.

Not only the United States, but South America, which is rich in lithium resources, also wants to get a share of the fiery competition for resources.

Fidel Yurga, director of a lithium extraction project in a salt lake in Bolivia: "The exploitation of lithium resources will bring us jobs, as well as education and medical care. Because the country is investing heavily, the citizens will benefit from it."

Data show that as of 2020, nearly 60% of the world's proven lithium resource reserves are located in Argentina, Chile and Bolivia, and these regions are therefore called the "lithium triangle."

Whoever owns more lithium will have more future. There are also auto companies that are actively pursuing the race. In July of this year, General Motors of the United States announced that it would assist in the development of a geothermal brine in California; in June, Volkswagen and Daimler Motors of Germany also cooperated to jointly promote the sustainable exploitation of lithium resources in Chile’s Atacama salt marsh. project.

Zeng Shaojun, the professional vice president and secretary general of the New Energy Chamber of Commerce of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, said that the application of lithium mines is not only energy storage-level power batteries, but also widely used in aerospace, nuclear industry and other fields. Therefore, it is precisely because of this strategic attribute that has received attention from various countries in recent years, and the competition surrounding this lithium has become more and more fierce.

The premium is more than doubled, and domestic companies are high-profile overseas "seeking lithium"

According to the latest data from the International Energy Agency, by 2030, only existing and under construction lithium mine production projects will cause about 50% of the global lithium demand gap; the current shortage of lithium resources has been transmitted to the country, how to increase reserves, Innovative refining technology has become a recognized goal in the industry.

Recently, domestic lithium resource supplier Ganfeng Lithium announced that it had initiated a high-priced merger with Canadian Millennium Lithium Corporation at a price of 122% of the company's average stock price in the past 20 days. The high profile of the action even triggered inquiries from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

At present, many domestic lithium mining companies and power battery companies have set their sights on ore-seeking overseas. Tianqi Lithium has previously stated that it has invested in Australia's Tellison Lithium Mine Company; power battery manufacturer Ningde Times also participated in a lithium salt extraction project in South America last year.

Zhang Jiangfeng, vice chairman of the Lithium Branch of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, pointed out: "The overseas deployment of lithium mines by companies is also conducive to the guarantee of our raw material supply, and it is also of positive significance for the sustainable development of the domestic industry."

While searching for minerals overseas, we have not forgotten to develop local resources. The Chaerhan Salt Lake in Qinghai Province is rich in 12 million tons of Lithium Chloride, but the impurity content is also high. Recently, the lithium salt producer Lanke Lithium announced that it has successfully extracted the lithium resources of the salt lake through advanced processes such as adsorption.

At present, the average cost of the salt lake lithium extraction industry has gradually dropped to 30,000-60,000 yuan per ton. For this reason, Salt Lake Co., Ltd., Zangge Holdings and Qinghai local enterprises have joined the salt lake lithium extraction army.

Zhang Jiangfeng, vice president of the Lithium Branch of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, said: "After the development of lithium extraction from salt lake brine, it will also have certain benefits for us to reduce our dependence on foreign countries. At the same time, domestic lithium resources can also be comprehensively utilized."

The data shows that from 2016 to 2020, the annual average registration number of domestic lithium mining resource-related companies has increased by 19%, and there are currently more than 330 lithium mining-related companies in China.

Lithium batteries are currently the mainstream of energy storage technology, but the possibility of alternatives to Sodium-ion batteries and hydrogen fuel cells is receiving increasing attention from the market. Recently, lithium battery manufacturer Ningde Times released a sodium-ion battery.

Huang Qisen, deputy dean of the Ningde Times Research Institute, said that sodium ranks sixth in the crustal element content, which means that it is very rich in resources. Sodium-ion batteries will open up a new commercial battery route.

The concept of hydrogen fuel cells also ushered in a full-scale explosion in the secondary market. On August 16, 15 stocks in the A-share hydrogen energy sector had a daily limit or a rise of more than 10%.

Zeng Shaojun, the professional vice president and secretary general of the New Energy Chamber of Commerce of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, pointed out that sodium ion batteries may become a supplement and substitute for lithium batteries from a resource point of view; for hydrogen fuel cells, from a technical point of view, there is no doubt that it will surpass Lithium batteries, but due to their degree of industrialization and cost, there is still a way to go to market in the future.