Recently, UBS stated that CATL’s spodumene mine in Jiangxi may restart, but did not provide further details. But this news is enough to stir up industry waves. On February 10th, insiders from Longpan Times, a lithium carbonate joint venture smelting plant located in Yichun, Jiangxi, confirmed to a certain media that the company has gradually resumed work.
In September 2024, Ningde Times made adjustments to lithium mining in Jiangxi Province. The reason was that the cost of extracting lithium from spodumene was higher than that of extracting lithium from salt lakes. After the news of production suspension was announced, lithium prices fluctuated accordingly. Lithium carbonate, which had been declining for half a year, showed signs of rebound. What impact does this resumption of production have on lithium carbonate prices?
The Ningde Times Jianxiawo Mine is located in Yichun, Jiangxi Province, with a resource reserve of 960.25 million tons, equivalent to approximately 6.57 million tons of lithium carbonate equivalent. It is the largest lithium mica mine in Yichun. But the grade of the mine is not high, about 0.27%, and the total cost of producing lithium carbonate is about 160000 yuan/ton LCE, which is more than twice the current market price (80000 yuan).
Why did Ningde Times resume production at such a high cost
The reason may be that downstream battery production and sales are booming, and CATL may face a shortage of lithium carbonate in the upstream.
Since 2025, Ningde Times has welcomed a wave of orders:
On February 6th, CATL won the bid for the Guoxin Liyang Energy Storage Power Station project, with a total price of 1.2 billion yuan, equivalent to a unit price of 0.607 yuan/Wh.
On January 27th, CATL signed a strategic agreement with global logistics giant DHL Group.
On January 19th, CATL announced that it had signed a 19GWh energy storage system order with Masdar in the United Arab Emirates.
On January 17th, Longpan Technology signed a new sales framework agreement and a new procurement framework agreement with CATL, both valid from January 1st, 2025 to December 31st, 2025.
On January 6th, CATL also held a strategic cooperation signing ceremony with FAW Jiefang in Ningde, Fujian.
On January 5th, CATL and Conch Group held a strategic cooperation agreement signing ceremony.
On January 2nd, the signing ceremony of the “Ningde Times Luoyuan New Energy Base Project Investment Contract” was held. The Ningde Times Fujian Fuzhou Luoyuan New Energy Base project is located in the Fuzhou Taiwan Business Investment Zone and plans to invest in the construction of a 40GWh battery base with an annual production capacity.
In summary, the resumption of production at Ningde Times Jianxiawo Mine is a positive news for the lithium carbonate market, indicating good downstream demand. As the supply-demand relationship tends to balance, lithium carbonate may experience a rebound, and specific market conditions still need to be monitored.
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