Chinese Battery Maker EVE Energy Said On Friday It Would Take A Stake In A Small Lithium Producer And Form A Joint Venture.
Chinese Battery Maker EVE Energy Said On Friday It Would Take A Stake In A Small Lithium Producer And Form A Joint Venture To Build A Lithium Chemicals Project Costing Up To 1.8 Billion Yuan (277, $ 8 Million). The move is EVE’s latest tilt to secure ingredients in batteries used in electric vehicles, such as lithium. Previously, it had taken a small stake in cobalt producer Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt and a 17% stake in a US $ 2.1 billion nickel and cobalt project alongside Huayou in Indonesia.
EVE, based in Huizhou in southern China, said in an exchange brief that it plans to take a 28.1% stake in Jinkulun Lithium Industry Co, which manufactures lithium metal in China’s Qinghai province, to the northwest, known for its lithium salt lakes. The two companies have agreed to set up a Qinghai-based company 80 percent and 20 percent Jinkulun-owned to build a 30,000-ton-per-year lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide manufacturing plant, EVE said.
The production of the first phase would be 10,000 tons, he added, bringing the total construction time of the project to 36 months maximum. EVE said the company was “conducive to improving the stability of the company’s supply chains” and could reduce the negative impact of fluctuations in commodity prices.
Battery-grade lithium carbonate prices in China, as assessed by Asian Metal, have fallen about 2% over the past month, but are still up over 65% so far in 2021, demand returning after a three-year slowdown.
This news was originally published at Canada Express.