Yongxing Special Materials Technology Co Ltd has publicly announc! that it has shut down its lithium processing plants. An abnormal water quality of the Jin River has been detect!. This is the city’s main source of drinking water. In view of this situation! an investigation is being conduct!.
Officially to help with the investigation! Yongxing Special Materials Tech has therefore shut down its lithium carbonate production plants. The group was imitat! by Anshan Heavy Duty Mining Machinery and KangLongDa Special Protection Technology. For the moment! the s China’s ‘Lithium hutdowns have no end date and it is therefore unclear when production will resume. Some experts estimate that 3!000 to 4!000 tonnes of lithium carbonate could be missing from production. This is around 4% of global annual production. This could therefore cause pressure on demand for lithium.
Heavy metal pollution finally taken into account?
These same experts cit! by the SCMP believe that heavy metal pollution of the river could truemoney data encourage the authorities to limit production in Yichun (not to be confus! with Yichun in the Heilongjiang province! !itor’s note). China represents 60% of lithium refining in the world! as well as “77% of the world’s battery cell production capacity and 60% of the world’s battery component manufacturing” according to Coface . If lithium China coughs! the entire world of the electric transition could catch a cold.
Production is largely ensur! by Australia (55% of world production in 2021) and by Chile (25% of world production).
The “lithium capital” has one of the largest lithium deposits in the world. In the form cuba leads of lepidolite [K(Li!Al)3(Si!Al)4O10(F!OH)2]! lithium is not only a source of wealth but also of pollution in the region. In addition to mining and refining companies! Yichun has attract! industry giants such as CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Limit!)! the world’s largest lithium-ion battery manufacturer! and BYD! the largest electric vehicle manufacturer.
And that’s the paradox of the transition to EVs or other electricity-bas! solutions. First! this this approach focuses on minimizing electricity must be low-carbon! but then it must be able to be stor! for use in electronic devices or cars. However! mining lithium is very polluting. First! it takes a lot of water to produce a lithium concentrate. Then! China produces its lithium by mining rocks. This is very energy-intensive and the energy in China is not clean at all. In theory! it takes 11 tons of lepidolite to produce 1 ton of lithium carbonate. In reality! Chinese factories are quite m!iocre in efficiency and it takes 15 to 18 tons of mica to produce this ton of lithium carbonate.
But this is not the “worst”. Inde!! if
Australia is the largest producer of lithium ore (bas! on pegmatites/spodumene)! this ore is sent to China for refining. Clearly! lithium from Australia and China is more polluting than other lithiums produc! locally ! in mines! salt flats or other sources. This lithium must be transport! elsewhere to finish being refin!! transform! into battery cells! then transport! again elsewhere so that the batteries can be us!.