Running discussion on SP, page-53183

Hi Obe Wan
Agree first things first .
As you have experience in the field would it be possible to build a singular DMS plant to cope with 10 mtpa output from the start or prepare the structure at least to be able to expand quickly .
Would assume cost savings would improve rather than duplicate .
If it was possible .. any engineers to comment.

Mr Pei certainly is looking at the first things first when considering Yibin scaled increase towards 150,000 t/py as in ASX last announcement.
Recent article where Yibin Tianyi are at with progress to lithium hydroxide production is interesting with timing.
2024 would be around AVZ completion.
The 4.5 mtpa will not provide sufficient output to meet Yibin expansion as AVZ have 2 other 5 year off takes obligation.

Should CATH receive a further increase in JV to 40% then they would need to increase their pro-rata financial percentage also.
DRC still has a 25% but only requires 10% of the project.
Similar parallels playing out as in the early stages of Fortescue Minerals.
Financing / JV percentages/ Huge demand for product /Large buyers for the product.
ALL IMO


China's Tianyi Lithium to build more hydroxide plants
Published date: 03 September 2021
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Major Chinese lithium hydroxide producer Tianyi Lithium is on track to build a new production facility in Meishan city, Sichuan province, to meet rapidly growing demand from the electric vehicle (EV) sector.

The 2.5bn yuan ($385mn) facility has a designed capacity of 60,000 t/yr for hydroxide and will be developed in two phases of 30,000 t/yr each. The firm will start constructing the facility in the second quarter of 2022 and launch production by the end of 2024.
Tianyi Lithium, which was founded in November 2018 and located in Yibin city in southwest China's Sichuan province, launched a 20,000 t/yr hydroxide plant in September 2020.
It began constructing another 25,000 t/yr plant in late 2020 and is on target to start trial production by the end of this year. It will invest Yn2.3bn to start building two other plants with capacities of 25,000 t/yr each, at the end of this year. It will complete construction at the end of 2022 and June 2024 respectively, which will raise its capacity in Yibin to nearly 100,000 t/yr in 2024. The combined capacity in Yibin and Meishan will reach nearly 160,000 t/yr in 2024.

The firm has signed offtake agreements with lithium concentrate suppliers Pilbara, AMG and AVZ since 2019 for 145,000-175,000t of supplies in 2021 and 215,000-245,000t in 2022. The amount will rise to 415,000 t/yr from 2023.

It produced about 5,200t of lithium hydroxide in 2020 and has been operating at full capacity since the start of this year, with an output of over 10,000t during January-June. It is carrying out a technical transformation of the first 20,000 t/yr plant in an effort to raise its capacity to more than 23,000 t/yr this year.
Canmax, China's key provider of electro-static discharge (ESD) and cleanroom contamination control solutions, and the country's largest lithium-ion battery manufacturer CATL, are Tianyi Lithium's two main shareholders, holding 68pc and 25pc respectively. Tianyi Lithium's downstream clients include lithium cathode material manufacturers such as Ningbo Rongby, B&M, Brunp and Beijing Easpring.
Lithium salt prices have risen swiftly this week to a three-year high, with producers raising offer prices almost every day. Most market participants remain bullish about the short-term market outlook because of tight supplies and buoyant demand from the EV and energy storage industries.
The EV market has been growing rapidly in response to China's efforts to reach carbon neutrality by 2060, and for CO2 emissions to peak by 2030. Beijing is offering subsidies for new energy vehicles (NEVs) until the end of 2022, and exempting purchase taxes on NEVs for 2021-22. Domestic NEV output rose to 1.504mn units in January-July, up by 195.6pc from a year earlier, with sales rising by 197.1pc to 1.478mn units. Demand from the EV industry is expected to remain robust in the coming years amid China's accelerated transition to a low-emission society.
Argus last assessed 56.5pc grade hydroxide prices higher at Yn130,000-136,000/t ex-works on 2 September, up by 174pc from the start of this year. Lithium resources are globally abundant, but current exploitation output is insufficient to meet the rapid growth in demand from the EV and energy storage sectors.

https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news/2250600-chinas-tianyi-lithium-to-build-more-hydroxide-plants