When will the battery factory and car companies go to the mining company's "working" lithium resources?

Reporter Cao Qi

Under the conduction of lithium resource supply and demand mismatch, new energy vehicle industry chain cost pressure, downstream power battery manufacturers and vehicle manufacturers have complained continuously.

Earlier, Zeng Qinghong, chairman of GAC Group, had a high cost of power batteries at the 2022 World Power Battery Conference, saying he was working for Ningde Times. However, the reporter consulted the Ningde Times first quarterly report that the company's revenue in the first quarter increased by 153.97%year -on -year, but net profit decreased by 23.62%year -on -year.

In this regard, industry insiders believe that raw material suppliers holding lithium mine resources may be the biggest winner. Judging from the performance trailers released by the upstream lithium salt listed company, Tianqi Lithium is expected to achieve net profit of 9.6 billion yuan to 11.6 billion yuan in the first half of this year, an increase of 110 to 134 times year -on -year; From the yuan to 630 million yuan, a year -on -year increase of 4080.57%to 4869.36%; Tianhua Chaoping is expected to achieve net profit of 3.35 billion yuan to 3.65 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a year -on -year increase of 971.70%to 1067.67%.

Excessive lithium prices are obviously not conducive to the stable development of the new energy vehicle industry chain. At the 2022 China Lithium Industry Conference and Lithium Resources Summit Forum held from July 27th to 28th, Zhang Jiangfeng, deputy president of the Lithium Branch of the China Nonferrous Metal Industry Association, said that the lithium price is too high to be conducive to downstream application expansion, and it may be possible. As a result, the emergence of more alternatives. At the same time, the cost pressure brought by it will be transmitted layer by layer, thereby increasing the cost of the entire industrial chain.

Multi -companies join the lithium mine battle battle

According to the price monitoring of business clubs, the average price of battery -level lithium carbonate on July 27 was 479,600 yuan/ton, an increase of 170%compared with the beginning of the year (282,000 yuan/ton on January 1).

From the perspective of the industry, the mismatch of lithium resources and demand is mainly due to the long period of lithium resource development projects.

Under normal circumstances, the lithium resource development project takes 2 to 3 years before it can be completed and put into production, and then it will take about 2 years to achieve production. Essence In this way, it is easy to make the upstream and downstream tone of the lithium battery industry chain difficult to consistent.

"It is expected that China's newly completed lithium salt production capacity in China in 2022 will be more than 150,000 tons, which will increase compared to last year." According to Zhang Jiangfeng, "in the next 2 to 3 years The global global demand for lithium is basically the same as the new output. It is expected that the global lithium supply and demand is basically balanced, but it is difficult to meet the procurement and stocking needs of all auto manufacturers, battery manufacturers and orthopedic material manufacturers. "

At present, Guoxuan Gaoke, Shengxin Lithium Energy, Jiangxi Yongxing Special Steel New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. and other lithium companies have expanded production.

At the same time, in order to compete for lithium resources, many companies have aimed at overseas lithium mines, and even staged a lithium mine battle. In this regard, Zhang Jiangfeng said, "Some foreign miners with a small amount of small amounts are raised. As a result, the result of Chinese companies' rolls is that it costs a high price to buy mine, which further pushes the lithium price."

Experts hotly discuss lithium resources supply

At the moment when the global anxiety of lithium resource, salt lake lithium lifting has become a hot topic of this conference. "Salt Lake lithium -lifting has obvious cost advantages and is an important direction for the development and utilization of lithium resources in the future." Mao Yuankai, assistant chairman of Tibet Mount Everest, told the Securities Daily reporter.

"About 60%of the world's lithium resources are in Salt Lake, most of which gather in the lithium triangle in South America. The resource endowment in these areas is better. The cost of lithium lithium salt lake is generally low, about 30,000 yuan/ton to 40,000 yuan/ton. . "Ji Guoxian, chief executive director of Guangfa Securities, and chief analyst of non -ferrous metal metal, said at the meeting," However, although the amount of salt lake resources is large and the cost is low, the development is relatively slow and the capital expenditure is large. about."

It is reported that many listed companies, including Ganfeng Lithium, have deployed salt lake resources in the Qinghai area, but the project is slow. In this regard, Peng Aiping, general manager of Ganfeng Lithium Industry Technology Center, revealed to the reporter of the Securities Daily, "It may take 5 years or even longer for products from ore to pick up products. For stallion, it takes half a year to expose the brine alone, which is why the amount of lithium lithium salt is relatively slow. "

Nevertheless, the development value of lithium salt lake resources is still high. Wang Xiaohu, deputy general manager of Jiangsu Jiuwu Hi -Tech Co., Ltd., said, "Technological progress is expected to reconstruct the value of the development of lithium resource of salt lake. For example, the use of new processes such as adsorption method can realize the direct lithium raw lithium lifting, reduce the investment in Yantian construction, and lithium lifting capacity The construction cycle is short and the lithium resource utilization rate is high. "

In addition to the development and utilization of salt lake lithium resources, some people in the industry also explore the supply of lithium resources through recycling power batteries. Zhang Kun, deputy general manager of Green Mei, said, "The company can handle more than dozens of kinds of nickel -cobalt waste, recycle cobalt nickel lithium and other valuable resources through independent research and development of key technologies, and prepare new energy materials. The lithium recovery rate is 85%to 90%. "

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