China discovered a 2,800 km long lithium belt

China’s Ministry of Natural Resources announced on January 8 that the country’s proven lithium reserves have increased significantly, accounting for 16.5% of the world’s total compared to the previous 6%. This leap makes China the second largest owner of lithium resources in the world, behind only Chile.

This is the result of important discoveries along the 2,800 km long XiKunlun – Songfan – Ganzi lithium belt in western China. This lithium belt has proven cumulative reserves of more than 6.5 million tons, with resource potential even exceeding 30 million tons.

Additionally, advances in salt lake lithium extraction technology and lithium mica also contributed to the increase in proven reserves. The newly identified lithium source from China’s salt lake is more than 14 million tons.

Extracting lithium from salt water in salt lakes, a low-cost technology with little impact on the environment, helps lithium resources in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau increase significantly. This makes China the third largest salt lake lithium hub in the world, after the lithium triangle in South America and the western United States.

China has overcome technological barriers when extracting lithium from mica, solving problems such as high extraction costs and complex processing requirements. This significantly increases the efficiency and economic feasibility of this approach, adding approximately 10 million tons of lithium to the proven reserves.

Lithium plays a key role in China’s rapidly growing new energy industry. This is a key component to produce batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) and many electronic devices.

Official data shows that China’s lithium-ion battery industry grew strongly from January to October 2024, with national battery output reaching 890 GWh, up 16% year-on-year. Also during this period, the battery capacity installed for new energy vehicles reached about 405 GWh.

According to Lin Boqiang, director of the China Energy Economics Research Center at Xiamen University, China’s competitiveness in lithium batteries is underpinned by the complete industrial chain, which allows the production of high-quality batteries at low prices. lower costs, ensuring greater competitiveness in the global market.