Foreign Investors Welcome to Develop China's Lithium Chloride Resources

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, December 03, 2001

Foreign Investors Welcome to Develop China's Lithium Chloride Resources

Foreign investors are welcome to take part in the exploitation of lithium chloride resources in Qinghai Province, northwest China, sources said.

Foreign investors are welcome to take part in the exploitation of lithium chloride resources in Qinghai Province, northwest China, sources said.

China's lithium chloride resources are mainly distributed in the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai.

In the basin's 33 salt lakes, the reserves of inorganic salt total 378 billion tons, of which lithium chloride accounts for 13.92 million tons, or more than 80 percent of the nation's total and nearly one-third of the world's total, said Jia Youliang, an official with the Qinghai Salt Lake Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Jia said that lithium has been widely used in the A-energy sector and space detecting since the 1970s, with the amount hitting some 80,000 tons annually.

It is estimated that the demand of lithium chloride will increase by 6 percent to 8 percent on a yearly basis in the future.

This year, China approved a 3,000-ton lithium carbonate project of Qinghai Lithium Industry Company. Costing 300 million yuan, the project is progressing smoothly and is expected to be completed in 2003.

The company plans to expand the lithium chlorate project upon its completion in 2003 and by 2005, the annual output of lithium carbonate will hit 30,000 tons, or one-third of the world's total.