Termination of JV with Yongxing Materials Wouldn't Impact Lithium Mine Development: CATL

Singapore: In the first week of September, the Lithium Carbonate production agreement allying the Chinese EV battery giant "CATL" and a developer of new materials, "Yongxing Materials," was terminated as both parties sought other ways of working together. CATL's latest response stated that the recent developments would not affect the development progress of the company's Lithium mined projects.

CATL or Ningde Times said that the company has successively obtained exploration rights and mining rights, as the business is progressing smoothly and the companies previously partnered with numerous Lithium Carbonate smelting capacities across China. Although the termination of the cooperation between the organizations has aroused market attention, several market sources firmly believe that the two parties terminated their partnership based on their actual conditions. At the same time, the high prices of Lithium eager CATL to pace the progress of resource mining to ease the cost pressure. CATL further added, "due to the actual situation faced in the process of project preparation, the company negotiated with Yongxing materials to terminate the agreement, to ensure the progress of Jiangxi Lithium Carbonate smelting capacity construction."

On 05th September, the two sides negotiated amicably to terminate the agreement for an annual output of 50,000 tonnes of Lithium Carbonate project. The two parties established cooperation at the start of 2022, with CATL hoping to build a Lithium Carbonate project with the help of Yongxing Materials technology investment in the extraction of Lithium from mica. In January 2022, both parties signed the "Joint Venture Agreement," agreeing to establish a JV company in Yichun, planning to invest CNY 2.5 billion to build the project, including planning to build 6 million tons of mining and mineral processing capacity with production of 50,000 tons of Carbonic Acid.   

In April 2022, CATL won the exploration right of ceramic soil (including Lithium) in the Zhenkouli-Fengxin county Jianxiwo mining area of Yifeng County under the jurisdictions of the Yichun city with CNYB 865 million.