In the long run, as an important raw material in the new energy battery industry, lithium carbonate, despite facing challenges such as short-term price fluctuations and market competition, still has broad demand prospects driven by the continuous growth of markets like NEVs and ESS.

Amid a market characterized by a supply-demand mismatch, lithium carbonate prices have repeatedly hit new lows. On May 29, the most-traded lithium carbonate futures contract fell below the important threshold of 60,000 yuan/mt, closing at 58,860 yuan/mt. As lithium carbonate prices continue to decline, the hedging demand of industrial enterprises has gradually increased. On May 26, Salt Lake Potash Co., Ltd. announced that it planned to carry out lithium carbonate futures hedging operations to reduce the impact of lithium carbonate price fluctuations on the company's production and operation and effectively hedge against market risks.

[Zijin Mining Expands Domestic Mineral Layout, Plans to Acquire Control of Zangge Mining for 13.7 Billion Yuan] On January 16, the first A-share merger and acquisition deal of 2025, which has drawn significant market attention, was finalized. Zijin Mining announced that it plans to acquire 24.82% of Zangge Mining's shares through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Zijin International Holdings, at 35 yuan per share, totaling 13.729 billion yuan. Combined with its previously held shares, the total shareholding will reach 25%. With the arrangement of the company's governance structure, Zijin Mining will gain control of Zangge Mining and consolidate its financial statements.

【Lithium Price Grinding and Mining Enterprise Diversification: Potential New Changes in Lithium Mining Industry Competition】Looking at the lithium price trend in the first half of the year, influenced by factors such as weak downstream demand, the price of lithium carbonate has been hovering between 90,000 yuan and 120,000 yuan per ton, with price grinding becoming the keyword of the lithium carbonate market in the first half of the year. The grinding of lithium prices has directly affected the performance of lithium mining enterprises. It is not difficult to see from the recently disclosed earnings forecasts for the first half of 2024 by several industry companies such as Tianqi Lithium, Ganfeng Lithium, Rongjie Shares, and Qinghai Salt Lake Industry Co., Ltd. that the decline in lithium prices has significantly weakened the profitability of upstream mining companies, and some companies are expected to suffer losses due to sluggish prices. What is the subsequent trend of lithium prices that determine the "fate" of upstream mining companies? In this regard, some industry insiders familiar with lithium salt industry believe that given the new production capacity in the second half of the year and downstream power battery demand, lithium prices are unlikely to fluctuate significantly, and low-level operation may give lithium extraction from salt lakes with cost advantages and enterprises with high-quality self-owned mines a competitive advantage.

【Significant Progress Made in Beijing Water Treatment's Tibet Salt Lake Comprehensive Utilization R&D Base】Recently, Beijing Water Treatment Technology announced on the investor interaction platform that significant progress has been made in its Tibet Salt Lake Comprehensive Utilization R&D Base. The base has successfully achieved stable output of lithium carbonate through the innovative process of "high-performance membrane + adsorption + electrochemistry + crystal coupling", marking an important breakthrough in the company's technology for lithium extraction from salt lakes. Beijing Water Treatment Technology stated that although continuous uninterrupted production has not yet been conducted, and no sales revenue from lithium carbonate has been generated, it is confident about the future and is optimizing and improving the extraction process of other elements, aiming to comprehensively and efficiently develop and utilize salt lake resources. This base not only sets a new benchmark for Beijing Water Treatment Technology, but also provides new momentum for the economy and new energy industry in Tibet, helping to achieve green, low-carbon, and sustainable development.

This is a summary of China metals output in April and forecast for May.

On December 19th, Blue Dawn Technology stated: The company has always been paying attention to the development and dynamics of the industry. In the field of lithium extraction, the company has been developing adsorption separation technology with independent intellectual property rights. Currently, the company has a variety of lithium adsorbents suitable for various types of liquid ore, with high yield, obvious environmental advantages, and superior performance. Blue Dawn Technology has four competitive advantages in the competition for lithium extraction from salt lakes.

China's copper cathode output in October was 993,800 mt, a decrease of 18,200 mt or 1.8% month-on-month, but a growth of 10.3% year-on-year.

The production of lithium carbonate in China in October was 40,426 mt, down 3% MoM and up 18% of YoY.

On October 12, SMM's battery-grade lithium carbonate index was 170,544 yuan/mt, up 9 yuan/mt from the previous working day.