Large Chinese lithium salts producer Jiangxi Special Electric Motor will buy lithium concentrate from the newly-commissioned Bald Hill mine in Western Australia.
The Chinese company's wholly-owned German subsidiary Weier Antriebeund Energietechnik in October acquired an 11.45pc stake in Tawana Resources, which operates the Bald Hill mine with a 50pc stake.
Tawana Resources officially started production at Bald Hill on 14 March. The mine has a resource of 18.9mn t, grading 1.18pc lithium oxide. It is initially expected to produce 155,000 t/yr of lithium concentrate.
The start-up of the Bald Hill mine will ensure feedstock supply to Baoli Lithium, a subsidiary of Jiangxi Special Electric Motor, the company said. It expects to buy at least 200,000t of lithium concentrate from the Bald Hill mine in 2018-19.
Jiangxi Special Electric Motor founded Baoli Lithium in July 2017 to operate a new production line for lithium carbonate and hydroxide. The line, which is designed to produce 10,000 t/yr of carbonate and 5,000 t/yr of hydroxide, is scheduled to start pilot production by the end of this month.
Jiangxi Special Electric Motor also commissioned a separate 5,000 t/yr production line for lithium carbonate in July last year. Lithium carbonate and hydroxide are widely used to make cathode materials in lithium-ion batteries.
Fast growth in electric vehicle (EV) production has prompted lithium producers to ramp up production and move to secure feedstock supply. China is on target to produce 1mn EVs in 2018.
Fellow Chinese firm Ganfeng Lithium is likely to ship 400,000t of lithium concentrate from Australian company RIM to feed its salts production in 2018. China's Tianqi Lithium has invested in Talison Lithium's Greenbushes mine in Australia, which plans to double capacity to more than 160,000 t/yr with commissioning scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2019.
Other Chinese producers including BYD, Zangge and Beijing Pulead are extracting lithium chloride from brine around Qarhan lake in China's Qinghai province.
