Financial Services Association, March 19 (Reporter Zeng Chuchu) The three lithium mining companies plan to jointly invest in the construction and operation of power infrastructure. The background is the joint promotion of Tianqi Lithium (002466.SZ), Ningde Era (300750.SZ), and Shengxin Lithium Energy (002250.SZ) in the Sichuan lithium mine.

Tianqi Lithium announced today that its holding subsidiary Shenghe Lithium signed a “Cooperation Agreement on Jointly Constructing a 220kV Power Transmission and Transformation Project in a Shared Methyl Card Mining Area”. The three parties plan to jointly fund the establishment of a joint venture, and the three parties will fund the construction of a 220kV power transmission and transformation project to meet the electricity needs of all parties. The registered capital of the joint venture is 300 million yuan. The three parties plan to invest 100 million yuan each in monetary terms, and each party will subscribe for 33.33% of the joint venture company's shares.

Behind this cooperation agreement is the joint promotion of lithium mine development by the three listed companies in Sichuan.

Among them, behind Snowway is the lithium battery leader Ningde Era. According to the announcement, Ningde Era is a shareholder of Snowway Holdings, and the actual controller of Snowway is Zeng Yuqun. Behind Huirong Mining is Shengxin Lithium Energy. According to Tianyancha's equity penetration, Shengxin Lithium Energy is the actual controller of Huirong Mining, with a total shareholding ratio of 45.742%.

According to data from Tianqi Lithium's semi-annual report last year, the Zola spodumene mine is located in Xinwei Village, Mulong Township, Yajiang County, Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province, and is part of the largest hard rock lithium methyl carb mine field in Asia. The Sichuan Yajiang Cuola mine, wholly owned by the company, is the resource base. As of December 31, 2021, the Zola spodumene mine had 632,000 tons of lithium carbonate equivalent lithium resources, with a resource grade of 1.3%; currently, the project is in the feasibility study stage.

Huirong Mining has prospecting rights for Muxin lithium ore. According to Shengxin Lithium Energy's 2022 report, as of the end of December 2020, 649,900 tons of Li2O resources had been identified, with an average grade of 1.63%.

Earlier, a reporter from the Financial Services Association learned that Snowway's rough reserves of 18,143 million tons of lithium ore, with a grade of 1.34%. According to rough estimates, the equivalent lithium concentrate (6% grade) is about 1814.30* 1.34%/6% = 4.051,900 tons. Based on the calculation of 1 ton of lithium carbonate equivalent to 8 tons of lithium concentrate, Germany and Longba are expected to produce a total of 506,500 tons of lithium carbonate.

Tianqi Lithium stated in the announcement that joint construction of supporting facilities is the best way to guarantee the development and utilization of mineral resources. The holding subsidiary of the company, Shenghe Lithium, established a tripartite joint venture with Snowway and Huirong Mining to help promote the construction of the company's Zola project, further accelerate the conversion of the company's resources into objective production capacity/output supply, and enhance the stability of the company's raw material supply chain (especially the supply of raw materials for domestic lithium salt production).

Tianqi Lithium also disclosed the latest progress of the Zola project. On January 9, 2024, the subsidiary Shenghe Lithium obtained a registration from the Yajiang County Development and Reform Bureau for the Tebaigou tailings depot project for the Cuola spodumene mine.

This may be another sign of the acceleration of the Sichuan lithium project. According to information, the Sichuan lithium mine is rich in resources, but due to natural environment and other conditions, development of several lithium mines in Sichuan has been delayed. In January of this year, news broke from Yajiang County in Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province, that nearly one million tons of lithium resources had been discovered, making it the largest pegmatite-type monomer lithium mine discovered in Asia so far.

Tianqi Lithium said in the announcement that given the objective natural conditions of the methylcard mining area, including the uniqueness of the power infrastructure, mining enterprises cooperate to build supporting facilities, which is the best way to guarantee the development and utilization of mineral resources.