Lithium carbonate is an essential upstream material for the production of Li-ion batteries, and its price has repeatedly climbed to a new high in the recent period owing to the boom in the NEV market. Within the market for lithium carbonate, suppliers are accelerating the pace of their capacity expansion activities in order to meet the growing demand.
On November 7, Anshan Heavy Duty Mining Machinery Co. Ltd. announced that it has signed an investment agreement with the government of Guixi. Under the agreement, Anshan will set up a lithium carbonate project through another entity. The registered capital of this entity is set at RMB 1 billion, and the project will have a processing capacity of 50,000 tons per year. Guxi is a county-level city in China’s Jiangxi Province. Here, “processing capacity” encompasses both production capacity and refining capacity.
Based on Anshan’s plan, the project is going to take up an area of 728 mu within a local eco-technology industrial park. The project will be implemented in two phases. The first phase will set up 25,000 tons per year of refining capacity, whereas the second phase will set up 25,000 tons per year of production capacity. Construction is provisionally scheduled to begin in 2023.
According to its statement about the project, Anshan said the investment is line with the policies formulated by the Chinese government for the promotion of new energy technologies and their applications. The investment also supports China’s industrial policies. Regarding the benefits of the project to the company, Anshan said raising production capacity for lithium carbonate will lead to an improvement in competitiveness and an increase in revenue. At the same time, the company and the local government will mutually benefit through the synergy of each other’s expertise as they strive to reach a common economic development goal.
Anshan’s main businesses are mining, construction, and heavy equipment. The company, in particular, develops and manufactures grinding and sorting machines for ores and coal materials. It also provides sales and aftersales services. In June 2021, Anshan announced that it was entering the market for lithium materials by using its own funds to acquire a 51% stake in Jiangxi Xing Li Technology Co. Ltd. However, the acquisition was suddenly called off this January. The reason that Anshan gave for canceling the deal was that ore prices and the macroeconomic environment were too volatile during the negotiation period, so the two parties were unable to reach an agreement on the final transaction price.
Nevertheless, in the same month, Anshan offered RMB 230 million to obtain a 70% stake in Jiangxi Jinhui Recycling Resources Co. Ltd. Then, this May, Anshan also took a 15% stake in Hongyuan Mine Industry (Pingjiang County) Co. Ltd. Jinhui specializes in sorting ores to find lepidolite, while Hongyuan produces spodumene.
With regard to Anshan’s financial performance, the company’s revenue for the first three quarters of 2022 came to around RMB 607 million, showing a year-on-year growth rate of 281.84%. The company’s profit (attributable to the parent company) for the same three-quarter period came to around RMB 84.33 million, showing a year-on-year growth rate of 611.17%. For this third quarter, its quarterly revenue rose by 646.79% year on year to RMB 318 million, and its quarterly profit rose by 303.61% year on year to RMB 35.6535 million.
This article is a translation of a Chinese article posted by TrendForce. It contains information that is either sourced from other news outlets or accessible in the public domain. Some Chinese names are transcribed into English using Hanyu Pinyin.