China: world’s second-largest lithium reserves
Recent finds, including massive deposits in Tibet, signals a potential 30 million ton addition to China’s lithium resources, will help meet demand for EV batteries and other technologies; raise China’s lithium reserves nearly 3 times to become the world’s second largest; moves ahead of Australia, Argentina and Bolivia, but only behind Chile.
Yet Australia, with the third largest reserve, has almost all its lithium mined exported to China.
Mining.com January 8, 2025 ~ China Daily Interesting Engineering
China’s lithium reserves have risen from 6% to 16.5% of the global total, making it the world’s second-largest holder of lithium reserves, state media reported on Wednesday.
China accounted for about 65 per cent of global lithium demand last year while only producing about 25 per cent of global supply — making it heavily reliant on overseas production.
The discovery has the potential to decrease China’s reliance on overseas imports, however it is unlikely that the region will become completely self-reliant.
Lithium is widely used in rechargeable batteries for renewable energy storage systems, as well as in ceramics, glass, electronic devices and pharmaceutical applications; including a wide range of emerging industries, such as electric vehicles, mobile communications, medical treatments, and fuel for nuclear reactors.
The newly discovered mines include a 2 800-km-long spodumene mine in the Xikunsong-Pan-Ganzi region in Tibet, and some lithium salt lakes in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Xinhua News Agency said in the report.
Additionally, explorations on the Tibetan Plateau have unveiled salt lakes anticipated to contain over 14 million tonnes of lithium. These discoveries extend the potential of exploring similar reserves in geologically comparable areas across the neighboring provinces of Qinghai, Sichuan, and Xinjiang.
With these discovered salt lakes, China now also hosts the world’s third-largest salt lake resources, after the lithium triangle in South America and western America, the report said.
China’s increased domestic lithium exploration is expected to reduce its reliance on foreign supplies and contribute to a more balanced global lithium market.
Joel
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