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- May 09, 2025-
The largest hard rock lithium mine in Asia has landed in Inner Mongolia
Recently, the Ministry of Natural Resources officially issued a mining license to Inner Mongolia Vilasto Mining Co., Ltd. This permit not only marks the substantial development stage of the largest hard rock lithium mine in Asia, the Vilastato Lithium Polymetallic Mine in Keshiketeng Banner, but also signifies a crucial step in the process of upstream resource autonomy in China's new energy industry chain.
Resource endowment rewrites the industrial landscape
The "gold content" of the Villasto lithium mine is remarkable: the proven ore reserves reach 55.27 million tons, including 576000 tons of lithium oxide metal, accounting for 1.2% of the global hard rock lithium resources; The amount of tin metal is 122000 tons, making it the largest single tin mine north of the Yangtze River.
The characteristics of shallow burial, thick ore body, and high grade (with an average grade of 1.37% for lithium oxide and 0.94% for tin) greatly reduce mining costs. The ore in the open-pit mining stage can directly enter the beneficiation process, and the resource utilization rate is increased by more than 30% compared to traditional underground mines.
The strategic significance of this resource reserve is self-evident. Based on current lithium prices, the potential economic value of lithium oxide alone has exceeded 200 billion yuan, while the amount of tin metal is equivalent to 1.5 times China's annual consumption.
More importantly, the mine fills the resource gap in China's northern new energy industry belt, making Inner Mongolia another lithium resource strategic base after Yichun in Jiangxi and Aba in Sichuan.
Two phases of development to create industry benchmarks
According to the plan, the Villasto project adopts a step-by-step development strategy of "first open-air, then underground". The first phase of the project will invest 2 billion yuan to build a 2.4 million ton/year open-pit mining and beneficiation system, which is planned to be put into operation in July 2026. After reaching production capacity, it can produce 300000 tons of lithium concentrate annually, meeting the lithium raw material demand for 50GWh power batteries, with an estimated annual output value of 2.3 billion yuan. The second phase will add an investment of 3 billion yuan to increase production capacity to 10 million tons per year and build the largest domestic lithium concentrate base, with the goal of targeting the dual track of new energy and semiconductor.
Technological innovation runs through the entire development process. Open pit mining adopts 3D geological modeling and intelligent ore matching system to achieve dynamic optimization of ore grade; The coupling process of "magnetic levitation gravity separation chemical lithium extraction" has been introduced in the beneficiation process, and the comprehensive lithium recovery rate has exceeded 85%, which is 10 percentage points higher than the industry average level. In terms of ecological protection, the mining area has simultaneously implemented slope restoration, groundwater recycling and other projects, reducing energy consumption per unit output value by 18% compared to the national standard.
Industrial chain clusters leverage regional economy
Chifeng City is building a full chain layout of "resources materials applications" with Velasto as the core. Upstream, relying on lithium concentrate bases, it attracts leading enterprises such as Tianqi Lithium and Ganfeng Lithium to layout lithium carbonate smelting; Mid stream planning and construction of production bases for positive electrode materials and separators; Targeting downstream energy storage power stations and supporting industries for new energy vehicles. The tin based material deep processing sector is aimed at high-end fields such as 5G communication and photovoltaic ribbon, and is expected to drive an expansion of tin based solder production capacity by 50000 tons per year.
According to the Industrial and Information Technology Bureau of Keshiketeng Banner, after the project is fully put into operation, it will directly create over a thousand job opportunities, pay nearly 1 billion yuan in annual tax, and drive the growth of the surrounding logistics, service and other tertiary industries by more than 30%. The more profound impact is that after the mine reaches its production capacity, it can increase China's self-sufficiency rate of lithium resources by 3 percentage points, effectively alleviating the risk of a 70% external dependence.
The Strategic Rise of the Northern Xinjiang Resource Belt
The landing of the Villasto project marks the acceleration period of Inner Mongolia's "Lithium Capital" strategy. The autonomous region plans to form a lithium industry chain with a scale of 200 billion yuan by 2030, with a focus on building three major industrial clusters in Hohhot, Baotou, Urumqi, Chifeng, and Ximeng.
Chifeng City is building an integrated system of "exploration mining beneficiation smelting" with the synergistic advantages of lithium, tin, and copper multi metals, aiming to become a new energy material supply center radiating to Northeast Asia.
Under the global energy transition wave, this breakthrough battle of "white oil" in northern Xinjiang is not only related to the regional economic development pattern, but also a key outcome for China to build an independent and controllable new energy supply chain.
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