On January 26, after more than three months of steady progress, Zijin Mining announced that it had completed the delivery of 100% equity M & A of Canada's new lithium company, officially opening up a "new track" of new energy. The company will start the construction of 3q Salt Lake Lithium project in Argentina as soon as possible to achieve the goal of putting phase I project into operation by the end of 2023.
In October 2021, Zijin Mining announced a tender offer of 5 billion yuan to acquire new lithium company. One stone has aroused thousands of waves. Under the situation that the global new energy continues to be optimistic, the price of lithium carbonate is rising, and traditional international mining giants frequently sell lithium and other new energy minerals, whether the transaction of Zijin Mining can be realized as scheduled has aroused many speculation in the market.
According to the announcement of Zijin mining, the general meeting of shareholders of Xinli company has approved the transaction, the approval or filing procedures of domestic and foreign regulatory authorities required for the acquisition of the equity of Xinli company have been completed, and the EIA permit of phase I mining phase of 3q project has been approved. After the completion of the delivery, new lithium will be officially delisted from the gem of Toronto Stock Exchange, the OTC QX market of the United States and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange of Germany.
From the many conditions for realizing the delivery, we can see the difficulty behind this delivery. The realization of this transaction once again let the market see the "stable, accurate and fast" style of Zijin Mining in overseas M & A projects.
The core asset 3Q project of new lithium company is located in the famous "lithium triangle" in South America. It is one of the best lithium salt lake resources in the world. Its volume ranks the top 5 among the world's major salt lakes and its grade ranks the top 3 among the world's major salt lakes.
According to the latest feasibility study, the 3Q project has a total lithium carbonate equivalent resource of about 7.63 million tons (lithium ion concentration cut-off grade 400mg / L), of which the reserve is 1.67 million tons, accounting for 31% of the proved + controlled resources, and the average lithium ion concentration is 786mg / L. The project has large resources, high grade, low impurities and good development conditions.
"Fast" is the consistent style of Zijin mining. In October 2021, after Zijin Mining announced its intention to acquire a new lithium company, it immediately established a 3Q project team to investigate the project in advance, communicate with scientific research institutions and experts in the salt lake lithium extraction industry at home and abroad for many times, and demonstrate and optimize the feasibility study and designed lithium extraction process.
It is understood that the main management and technical team of 3q project, led by Huang huaiguo, a doctor of chemical engineering who once held several important technical and management positions in Zijin mining, has been stationed in the project site. The project construction will be started as soon as possible after the completion of the project delivery.
The first phase of the project is designed to produce 20000 tons of battery grade lithium carbonate per year, which is expected to be completed and put into operation by the end of 2023. The project has previously carried out preliminary research on the annual output of 40000-60000 tons of lithium carbonate. In the future, the company will comprehensively strengthen the research on production expansion technology, put forward the technical transformation and expansion plan in time, and achieve the new production target as soon as possible.
According to the evaluation and demonstration of Zijin mining, it is possible to further optimize the production process layout of 3q project. At that time, the project investment and production cost will be further reduced. Aiming at the problem of low lithium recovery rate of phase I project of 3q project, the company organized a technical team to conduct preliminary experimental research, and it is possible to significantly improve the lithium recovery rate and output. Meanwhile, in order to reduce the carbon emission of the project, Zijin mining plans to further increase the use and promotion of clean energy in the project.
The reporter also noted that in January 2022, Zijin Mining established a joint venture with the national mining company of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and officially launched the first lithium exploration project of Zijin mining. The exploration project is located in the periphery of the world's largest hard rock lithium mine Manono lithium mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with great prospecting potential. At the same time, Zijin has also made layout in terms of electrolytic copper foil and lithium iron phosphate. If the comprehensive development of lithium resources can be realized in "one lake and one mine", Zijin Mining will have a broader prospect in the layout and aftereffect of new energy minerals.
Chen Jinghe, chairman of Zijin mining, said that as a latecomer in the new energy market, in the face of the global energy revolution and the rapid development of the new energy industry, the company was half a beat behind the "starting line"; The decision of the board of directors of the company to enter the new energy and new material industry is a major strategic supplement. In the structure of leapfrog growth of the company in the future, a pattern of copper "main force", gold "new force" and new energy "strengthening force" will be formed; The company will quickly solve the problems of talents, technology and mechanism, carry out work in a "wartime" state, and quickly become a leader with Zijin characteristics in the new energy industry.
In addition, according to the company's new year announcement, Zijin Mining's operating performance reached record highs in 2021. The annual net profit attributable to the parent company is expected to be about 15.6 billion yuan, an increase of 9.1 billion yuan compared with the same period of last year, a year-on-year increase of about 140%. Looking forward to 2022, the planned indicators of the company's main products are 860000 tons of mineral copper, 60 tons of mineral gold, 480000 tons of mineral zinc (lead), 310 tons of mineral silver and 3.2 million tons of iron concentrate, which will continue to maintain a high growth trend. At the beginning of the new year, the company adjusted the overall strategic goal of 2030 to "green high-tech super first-class international mining group", indicating its confidence and determination to accelerate green sustainable development and seize opportunities in the field of new energy under the background of "double carbon".
