China's lithium mining industry is moving from resource breakthrough to ecological construction

  Revisions in the global lithium supply chain. On February 25th, Zimbabwe, the world's fourth-largest lithium ore producer, announced that it will immediately suspend the export of lithium concentrate and raw ore. This move will undoubtedly accelerate the restructuring of the global lithium resource landscape and also mark a new stage in the strategic game of "white oil".

  Over the past 10 years, although the price of lithium has experienced several "roller coaster" fluctuations, the global competition and layout for lithium resources have never ceased. Policy tightening in resource countries, periodic imbalance in supply and demand, and accelerated technological innovation have jointly shaped the complex landscape of the lithium industry.

  As the world's largest producer and consumer of lithium batteries, China has established a complete industrial chain and cultivated leading enterprises with global competitiveness. Facing external supply disruptions and internal transformation demands, the Chinese lithium mining industry is shifting from resource breakthrough to ecological construction. It is enhancing supply elasticity through technological innovation and strengthening supply chain resilience through global layout. This transformation, which concerns energy security and the future of the industry, is profoundly rewriting the global landscape of new energy.

Enhance the independent guarantee capacity for lithium resources

  According to customs data, in 2025, China's imports of lithium concentrate were approximately 775.1 million tons, an increase of about 39.4% compared to the previous year. The main sources were countries such as Australia, Zimbabwe, and Brazil. The net imports of lithium carbonate were 23.7 million tons, an increase of about 2.8% compared to the previous year. 

  Duan Zhiqiang, the director of Wan Chuan Investment and Trade Research Institute, said in an interview with Securities Daily: "The global distribution of lithium resources is highly unbalanced. Regions such as the 'Lithium Triangle' in South America, Australia, and Africa have lithium resource advantages. China's new energy vehicles and lithium battery industries are booming, which has driven the continuous improvement of key resource exploration, development and mining technologies. However, the domestic resource supply is far from meeting the total demand." 

  The strategic value of lithium resources has been widely recognized by major countries around the world. Countries such as Chile, Bolivia, and Mexico have all listed lithium resources as national strategic resources and have imposed increasingly strict controls over their exploitation and utilization. This has further exacerbated the uncertainty in global lithium resource supply.

Jiang Weiping, the honorary chairman of the board of Tianqi Lithium Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Tianqi Lithium"), once told Securities Daily: "China is already the world's largest producer and consumer of basic lithium battery materials. Compared with the strong lithium salt production capacity, the domestic supply of lithium raw materials is clearly insufficient. Accelerating the green and efficient development of lithium resources is an inevitable choice to ensure the security of the lithium battery industry supply chain, and it has significant strategic importance." 

In this context, there has been a significant positive development in the exploration of lithium resources in our country. In September 2025, the official exploration results released by the Ministry of Natural Resources showed that a new "Asian Lithium Belt" spanning four provinces and regions including Sichuan, Qinghai, Xizang, and Xinjiang was discovered in China. This rare metal mineralization belt, with a length of 2800 kilometers, has identified several large and super-large lithium mines. This major discovery has directly led to a significant increase in China's global share of lithium resources reserves, rising from the sixth position to the second position, achieving a historic leap in resource reserves. 

As a landmark achievement of China's "14th Five-Year Plan" strategic action for mineral exploration breakthroughs, the discovery of the "Asian Lithium Belt" not only strengthened the country's resource base, but also will fundamentally change the supply pattern of lithium resources in China. 

Gao Honglin, the president of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, predicts that in 2026, China's lithium spodumene mining output will exceed 10 million tons, and the lithium concentrate production is expected to reach 2 million tons. The country's independent guarantee capacity for lithium resources will be significantly enhanced, laying a solid foundation for the development of the lithium battery industry.

From single mining to full-chain collaboration

Self-sufficiency in resources is only the first step. The real leap for China's lithium mining industry lies in the construction of an entire industrial ecosystem. In the past, the domestic lithium industry has long been at the low end of the value chain, only undertaking ore mining and primary processing; nowadays, the industry has formed a complete closed loop of "resource exploration - mining and beneficiation - smelting and processing - battery manufacturing - recycling and utilization", moving from a simple "resource competition" stage to a new stage of "industry transformation".

Zheng Xiaqiang, a lithium industry analyst from the New Energy Division of Shanghai Steel Link, told Securities Daily: "The distribution of lithium resources in China is relatively balanced, and the domestic lithium extraction technology is relatively more advanced than that in overseas. Currently, most of the projects are progressing normally." 

From the perspective of the industry's upstream, the lithium extraction capacity from salt lakes centered in Qinghai has been expanding rapidly. The development of lithium mica resources in places like Yichun in Jiangxi Province and Jikoushan in Hunan Province is proceeding in an orderly manner. The development of lithium spodumene resources in Xinjiang and western Sichuan has been fully initiated, forming a new pattern where salt lakes, lithium spodumene, and lithium mica resources are all being developed simultaneously.

From the perspective of the midstream of the industry, China has established a core position in the global lithium salt supply market. According to Zhang Jiangfeng, the vice president of the Lithium Industry Branch of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, China dominates the global lithium salt production capacity. The production scale and output have ranked first in the world for several consecutive years, and the total output of the two basic lithium salt products (lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide) accounts for approximately 70% of the global share. 

Not only that, more and more enterprises are breaking away from the mindset of merely competing for resources and are shifting towards collaborative development across the entire industry chain and ecological construction. For instance, Tiance Lithium has set a long-term strategic goal of "strengthening the upstream, enhancing the midstream, and penetrating the downstream". Besides actively promoting the development of lithium mines and lithium salts, in recent years, it has also invested in enterprises such as Beijing Weilan, Xatong New Energy, and Smart, strengthening its presence in the midstream and downstream markets.

Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium Industry Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Ganfeng Lithium") has established an integrated layout covering the upstream and downstream of solid-state batteries. By developing new processes and technologies for the comprehensive recycling of retired batteries, as well as expanding the production capacity of retired lithium battery recycling, it has already built several dismantling and recycling bases. This "resource extraction - product production - recycling and regeneration" closed-loop model has achieved the organic combination of resource recycling and business growth, providing valuable experience for the sustainable development of the industry. 

In addition to expanding the upstream and downstream boundaries, the diversified layout of enterprises is also injecting new vitality into the industrial ecosystem. Many lithium industry listed companies have been diversifying their business into cutting-edge fields such as solid-state batteries, hydrogen energy storage, and new materials. Through extending the industrial chain and achieving technological collaboration, they are able to withstand market risks and promote the application of lithium resources in a wider range of fields. 

Some industry experts have stated that through core technologies such as lithium extraction from salt lakes and mica, as well as the world's largest market for battery power and new energy vehicles, China has become a core supply source for global battery manufacturers. It has gradually gained control over the pricing, technology and demand-pushing rights of the global lithium resource supply chain, and has promoted the transformation of the supply chain pattern from "unilateral dominance at the resource end" to "bidirectional linkage of China's industrial hub".

The industry is accelerating its deep integration.

Over the past 10 years, China's lithium mining industry has moved from a stage of resource competition and capacity expansion to a stage characterized by synergy, innovation and sharing. This transformation not only changed the operational logic of the industry, but also reshaped the global lithium resource supply chain pattern. 

Many A-share listed companies such as Ganfeng Lithium, Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd., and Shengxin Lithium Energy Group Co., Ltd. have successively disclosed their new plans for laying out lithium resource projects overseas and at home. Among them, there are also cooperation models such as joint production capacity construction between China and foreign countries. 

"For enterprises that are setting up a global lithium resource distribution network, adopting more flexible investment methods such as 'technology + capital' will lead to a win-win situation for all parties," said Duan Zhiqiang.

At present, China leads the world in technological innovation. In January this year, the research team from the Qinghai Salt Lake Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced a significant technological breakthrough in the field of lithium resource separation from salt lakes, successfully overcoming the bottleneck of efficient separation of lithium, sodium, and potassium ions in the mother liquor of lithium. At the same time, Qinghai Province completed the world's first million-ton-scale industrial demonstration line for extracting battery-grade lithium carbonate from salt lake lithium mother liquor. 

Fu Xiaofang, a professor-level senior engineer at the Sichuan Institute of Comprehensive Geological Survey, has identified three main development lines for the lithium industry in the future: promoting the recovery of the price center through supply-demand rebalancing, expanding application space through technological innovation, and achieving green and sustainable development. She stated: "The future of the industry depends on how to balance the three goals of resource security, technological innovation, and sustainable development. In the historical process of global energy transition, lithium will continue to play a key role, leading humanity towards the era of clean energy." 

In the future, as the country's ability to independently secure resources improves, the supply-demand balance is achieved, and the industrial ecosystem continues to optimize, China's lithium mining industry will write an even more splendid chapter in the global energy transition process, providing solid support for achieving the "dual carbon" goals and building a clean and low-carbon energy system.

At present, China leads the world in technological innovation. In January this year, the research team from the Qinghai Salt Lake Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced a significant technological breakthrough in the field of lithium resource separation from salt lakes, successfully overcoming the bottleneck of efficient separation of lithium, sodium, and potassium ions in the mother liquor of lithium. At the same time, Qinghai Province completed the world's first million-ton-scale industrial demonstration line for extracting battery-grade lithium carbonate from salt lake lithium mother liquor. 

Fu Xiaofang, a professor-level senior engineer at the Sichuan Institute of Comprehensive Geological Survey, has identified three main development lines for the lithium industry in the future: promoting the recovery of the price center through supply-demand rebalancing, expanding application space through technological innovation, and achieving green and sustainable development. She stated: "The future of the industry depends on how to balance the three goals of resource security, technological innovation, and sustainable development. In the historical process of global energy transition, lithium will continue to play a key role, leading humanity towards the era of clean energy." 

In the future, as the country's ability to independently secure resources improves, the supply-demand balance is achieved, and the industrial ecosystem continues to optimize, China's lithium mining industry will write an even more splendid chapter in the global energy transition process, providing solid support for achieving the "dual carbon" goals and building a clean and low-carbon energy system.