Recently, many lithium salt companies in Yichun, Jiangxi Province have announced the suspension of production, and the environmental incentives behind them have attracted attention from the outside world.
Among them, Yongxing Materials Company, the leader in lithium extraction from mica, made it clear that the lithium carbonate smelting production line of Jiangxi Yongxing New Energy, which it controls and is located in Yifeng County, Yichun, needs to temporarily suspend production to cooperate with environmental investigations. Two companies, Anzhong Co., Ltd. and Kanglongda Technology, stated that the reason for the suspension of production of Jiangxi Lingneng Lithium Industry controlled by the former and Jiangxi Tiancheng Lithium Industry and Jiangxi Xiecheng Lithium Industry controlled by the latter was to cooperate with the high-tech industry in Shanggao County, Yichun Park infrastructure upgrade and reconstruction (Jiamei Road reconstruction project).
However, this unanimous expression of "building roads" has attracted many associations and speculations.
On December 5, the relevant person in charge of the Environmental Protection Bureau of Yichun Shanggao County Government told The Paper that the Environmental Protection Bureau did not issue a production suspension document to the lithium salt company located in Shanggao County. The two holding companies It also stated that the situation shall be subject to the announcement. However, The Paper learned from sources that many lithium salt companies in Yichun have stopped production this time. The most likely reason is still that the water quality of Jinjiang River in Gao'an City, under the jurisdiction of Yichun, has recently experienced serious metal pollution (tantalum elements exceed the standard), and the Jinjiang River is located in the upper reaches of the Jinjiang River. In order to cooperate with the environmental protection investigation, some lithium salt companies were asked to temporarily suspend production.
According to the announcement issued by Yongxing Special Materials Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yongxing Materials"), Gao'an City, Jiangxi Province found abnormal water quality in the Jinjiang water source during daily monitoring, and the ecological environment department is carrying out upstream and downstream work During the investigation, the subsidiary Jiangxi Yongxing Special Steel New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yongxing New Energy") temporarily suspended production of the lithium carbonate smelting production line in order to cooperate with the environmental investigation.
It is understood that Yongxing New Energy was established in 2017 and is the main implementation platform of Yongxing Materials’ lithium battery new energy business. From January to September 2022, Yongxing Materials achieved sales of 13,800 tons of lithium carbonate, and its lithium battery new energy business achieved a net profit of 4.032 billion yuan attributable to shareholders of listed companies. From January to September 2022, Yongxing Materials’ net profit was 4.271 billion yuan, with lithium battery new energy business revenue accounting for nearly 95%.
Yongxing Materials said that except for the lithium carbonate smelting production line, other businesses of Yongxing New Energy are operating normally. Since it is still unclear when the lithium carbonate smelting production line will resume production, the specific impact of this temporary suspension on the company's performance cannot be predicted.
On December 3, Zhejiang Kanglongda Special Protection Technology Co., Ltd. issued an announcement stating that its holding subsidiaries Jiangxi Tiancheng Lithium Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Tiancheng Lithium Industry") and Jiangxi Xiecheng Lithium Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xiecheng Lithium") plans to temporarily suspend production due to equipment inspection and facility maintenance, and at the same time cooperating with the infrastructure upgrade and reconstruction of Shanggao County High-tech Industrial Park (Jiamei Road reconstruction project).
The main product that Tiancheng Lithium has discontinued is lithium sulfate solution, while the main product that Xiecheng Lithium has discontinued is lithium carbonate. According to disclosures, Tiancheng Lithium's lithium sulfate solution production line production capacity plan can be converted into 10,000 tons of lithium carbonate per year, and Xiecheng Lithium currently has an annual output of 6,000 tons of lithium carbonate and 6,000 tons of lithium hydroxide transferred from Tiancheng Lithium. project.
According to Kang Lunda's announcement, Tiancheng Lithium's output equivalent to lithium carbonate from January to September 2022 was 2,930 tons. This time the holding subsidiary temporarily suspended production, and it is expected to reduce production by about 25 tons equivalent to lithium carbonate per day. The overall revenue and financial impact cannot be accurately predicted at this time.
According to the latest announcement of Anshan Heavy Mining Machinery Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Anshan Heavy Mining Machinery Co., Ltd."), the controlling subsidiary company Jiangxi Lingneng Lithium Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Lingneng Lithium Industry") is expected to The daily equivalent production reduction of lithium carbonate is about 20 tons, and the revenue impact is about 11 million yuan/day.
At the beginning of this year, Lingneng Lithium invested in the construction of the first phase of a battery-grade lithium carbonate production line project with an annual output of 10,000 tons. After two months of equipment debugging, the project has been put into operation and the products have been sold.
According to estimates from Shanghai Nonferrous Metals Network, there is still great uncertainty in the duration of the emergency. If we use a more pessimistic estimate, it may bring about 3,000-4,000 tons of lithium carbonate equivalent. Influence. Judging from the impact on the spot market of lithium carbonate, downstream procurement demand has continued to weaken in recent times, and the downward trend in lithium prices has been obvious. However, under the influence of this emergency, it is expected that the price of lithium salts will be stable with a decline in the future. trend.
It is urgent to standardize the treatment of lithium mine waste
The suspension of production by many lithium salt companies has brought the issue of safe production of lithium salts to the surface again. On November 25, an announcement issued by Gao'an City, Jiangxi Province showed that the local area found abnormal water quality in the Jinjiang water source during daily monitoring, and the ecological environment department was conducting investigations upstream and downstream.
Gao'an City is a county-level municipality under the jurisdiction of Yichun City, and Jinjiang River is the largest river in Gao'an City. It originates from Yuanzhou District, Yichun City, and flows through Yuanzhou, Wanzai, Shanggao, and Yichun. The seven counties and cities of Feng, Gao'an, Xinjian and Fengcheng are the main water sources for the residents of Shanggao, Gao'an and other counties (cities).
According to sources told The Paper, the heavy metal pollution in the Gao'an section of the Jinjiang River is relatively serious this time, and the Jiangxi Provincial Government has sent a relevant investigation team to the local area for on-the-spot investigation.
Among the lithium salt companies that have stopped production this time, the lithium salt production line of Yongxing Materials subsidiary is in Yifeng County, and the lithium salt production lines of two subsidiaries of Kanglongda and Anzhong Co., Ltd. are in Shanggao County. , all located in the upper reaches of Jinjiang Gao'an River Basin.
In recent years, Yichun, Jiangxi Province, has become famous for its rich lepidolite mines. As the sales of downstream new energy vehicles continue to increase and the production of power batteries continues to expand, many companies have gone to Yichun in search of lithium. Yichun has also repeatedly played a clear banner of vigorously developing the lithium battery industry and building Asia's "Lithium Capital".
According to figures released by the Yichun Municipal Government, Yichun's annual lithium carbonate production in 2021 will be 81,000 tons, more than a quarter of the country's total. It is estimated that by 2025, the output of lepidolite concentrate and lithium carbonate in Yichun City will reach 7 million tons and more than 500,000 tons respectively.
However, the waste residue generated during the ore smelting process has gradually become a hidden danger. Industry insiders pointed out that due to the low lithium grade of the lepidolite project, a large amount of waste (including tail mud, tailings and lithium feldspar powder) is produced, which poses a major challenge to subsequent consumption and treatment. Judging from the current method of extracting lithium from mica, 150-200 tons of raw ore can produce 1 ton of lithium carbonate (the difference comes from different grades of lithium-containing grades). Yichun's planned output of lithium carbonate in 2025 is 500,000 tons, and it is expected to be More than 10 million tons of waste are produced.
Previous media reports stated that in Yifeng, Shanggao, Gao'an and other places where the Jinjiang River flows, lithium battery companies and construction ceramics companies are located on both sides of the strait. Due to the skyrocketing price of lithium carbonate and the recession in the ceramic industry, a considerable number of ceramic companies have transformed and transformed the lithium carbonate industry. According to previous public data, the current conversion to the production of lithium slag blanks in Yichun has involved more than 20 ceramic factories, with a total of more than 50 production lines.
In August this year, the Second Ecological Environmental Protection Inspection Team of Jiangxi Province reported back to Yichun City on the inspection situation and pointed out that some outstanding ecological and environmental problems in Yichun City need to be solved urgently, including incomplete diversion of rainwater and sewage from some lithium battery enterprises, and the accumulation of mineral processing tailings. The storage management of slag and smelting lithium slag is not standardized, and there are great potential ecological and environmental risks. The inspector requested Yichun City to strengthen the supervision of industrial enterprises in accordance with the law, and to do a good job in ecological and environmental protection of the lithium battery new energy industry from a high starting point and high standards.
In early November, the Yichun Municipal Ecological Environment Bureau issued a notice suspending the approval of lithium slag roasting projects in ceramic factories. The "Notice" pointed out that there are many hidden dangers in the city's lithium battery industry chain enterprises. Projects approved in the name of secondary extraction of lithium from lithium slag by ceramic factories have certain environmental risks. In order to prevent and control risks, the approval of such projects will be suspended.
In addition, the "Notice" also pointed out that in principle, except for Yifeng, Fengxin, Yuanzhou and other places, "there will be no new lepidolite mineral processing projects in other counties and cities in Yichun". For mineral processing plants Yifeng, Gao'an and other places should attach great importance to the disposal of feldspar powder and lithium carbonate enterprise lithium slag, and accelerate the construction of lithium slag consumption sites. Lithium slag that cannot be processed by enterprises should be temporarily stored and consumed until conditions are mature. be developed and utilized later.