Lithium exploration boosts reserves, elevates ranking

China's breakthrough in lithium exploration has boosted its global share of lithium reserves from 6 to 16.5 percent, raising its global ranking from sixth to second and enhancing its new energy vehicle capacity, the China Geological Survey announced on Wednesday.

Since 2021, China has stepped up efforts in lithium exploration nationwide, identifying more than 30 million metric tons of new lithium ore in places such as Sichuan, Qinghai and Jiangxi provinces, as well as in the Xinjiang Uygur and Inner Mongolia autonomous regions, according to the China Geological Survey, an institution of the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Wang Denghong, a senior scientist at the institution, said this round of exploration, which started in 2021, was headed by the China Geological Survey and has led to the discovery of a series of new types of lithium ores, including about 10 million tons of lepidolite lithium ore in Hunan province, Jiangxi and Inner Mongolia; about 10 million tons of brine lithium ore in Qinghai; and 10 million tons of spodumene lithium ore in Xinjiang.

The China Geological Survey also said that with a technological breakthrough in extracting lithium from lepidolite, the 10 million tons of newly discovered lithium resources can be extracted at a lower cost and higher utilization efficiency.

Additionally, known for its low cost and low pollution, the extraction of lithium from salt lakes resulted in substantial lithium resource growth. China has identified more than 14 million tons of lithium in salt lakes, making it the world's third-largest salt lake lithium resource hub, following the "lithium triangle" of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile in South America and the western region of the United States, the China Geological Survey said.

Lithium is now the main component in batteries that power not only consumer electronics, but also an increasing number of electric vehicles and stationary energy storage systems.

With the rapid growth of the EV market, the global demand and market prices for lithium have surged dramatically, exerting great cost pressures on China's new energy vehicle production and constraining its industrial development, according to industry insiders.

The China Geological Survey said this major breakthrough in lithium exploration would significantly ease the tight supply of lithium resources in China, reduce dependency on imports, enhance the security of the industrial chain and reshape the global lithium resource landscape.