NEV industry boosted by phosphate processing innovations in Guizhou

Qiannan Bouyei and Miao autonomous prefecture in Guizhou province will make full use of its rich phosphate mines by deep processing to support the development of the new energy vehicles industry, said Hong Hupeng, a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress and Party secretary of the prefecture, during the ongoing two sessions in Beijing.

The autonomous prefecture, known for its abundant phosphate resources, has proven reserves exceeding 2 billion metric tons.

Phosphate is a raw material used to make new energy batteries in China's booming electric vehicle industry.

Hong said that the traditional approach of simply extracting and selling raw minerals will be replaced by efforts to enhance product value.

"We are transitioning from solely producing acid and fertilizer from phosphate rock to manufacturing new energy battery materials such as iron phosphate and lithium iron phosphate in response to growing market demand," he said.

Hong also said that the local industry for new energy battery materials has emerged from scratch in just over three years, with the combined output value of modern phosphorus-based chemicals and new energy battery materials now exceeding 50 billion yuan ($6.9 billion).

In addition, efforts will be made to improve the utilization of byproducts such as iron, aluminum and fluorine from phosphate mining, according to Hong.

"We aim to reach an output value of 100 billion yuan for phosphorus-based chemicals and new energy battery materials by 2027 and to exceed 200 billion yuan by 2030," he added.

Liu Boqian contributed to this story.