"Crazy Lithium Mine" staged again! After 3412 bids, the transaction price soared nearly 1800 times to 1.01 billion yuan.

According to the information obtained from the Zhongtong Finance APP, the bidding for the exploration rights of the Lijiagou North Lithium Mine in Jinchuan County, Sichuan Province, which started at 10:00 am on the 9th with an initial price of 570,000 yuan, suddenly ended on the morning of August 11th. The highest bid for the mine was 1,010,170,000 yuan, with a total of 3,412 bids and an appreciation of 1,009,600,000 yuan, resulting in a 1,771.23-fold increase. The highest bidder was number 1628. The bidding for the exploration rights of the Jiada Lithium Mine in Malkang City, Sichuan Province, is still fiercely ongoing, with the highest bid already exceeding 3 billion yuan.

On June 20th, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued a notice for the transfer of exploration rights for the Jiada Lithium Mine in Malkang City and the Lijiagou North Lithium Mine in Jinchuan County, Sichuan Province. The notice shows that the exploration rights for the Lijiagou North Lithium Mine in Jinchuan County, Sichuan Province, will be initially granted for a period of 5 years, covering an area of 7.551 square kilometers, with a starting price of 570,000 yuan and a transfer revenue rate of 1.4%. The exploration rights for the Jiada Lithium Mine in Malkang City, Sichuan Province, will also be initially granted for a period of 5 years, covering an area of 21.2247 square kilometers, with a starting price of 3.19 million yuan and a transfer revenue rate of 1.4%.

Information shows that the Lijiagou Lithium Spodumene Deposit in Jinchuan County is located in the western Sichuan-Ganzi-Songpan orogenic belt and is part of the famous Kuerle rare metal ore field. The Malkang-Kuerle-Lijiagou energy and mineral resources base in Sichuan mainly involves Malkang City, Jinchuan County, and Rangtang County. The lithium resources in the Kuerle area (lithium oxide) amount to 1.6184 million tons, with a total ore volume of 125 million tons.

It is understood that Sichuan has abundant lithium resources, accounting for 57% of the national total and ranking first in the country. Sichuan's lithium mines are mainly distributed in the Jinchuan-Malkang metallogenic zone and the Kangding-Daofu metallogenic zone, with the representative mines being the Jiajika Mine in Garze Prefecture and the Kuerle Mine in Aba Prefecture. Among them, Malkang is part of the Kuerle mining area, which has a large amount of exploitable resources. The existing mines mainly include Lijiagou, Yelonggou, and Dangba lithium mines, and the planned new mines include Taiyanghe and Dilachiu lithium spodumene mines.

It is worth mentioning that since July, three mining companies have been registered and established in Malkang, which may be related to the exploration and mining rights bidding for the two lithium mines in Sichuan. These three mining companies may intend to participate in the bidding for the lithium exploration and mining rights.

On July 23rd, the unveiling ceremony of Sichuan Western Lithium Group Co., Ltd. was held in Chengdu. The registered capital of the company is 90 million yuan, and its registered location is Malkang.

On July 11th, Malkang Era Mining Co., Ltd., indirectly wholly owned by CATL, was registered and established with a registered capital of 300 million yuan. The business scope of Malkang Era Mining Co., Ltd. includes mineral resource exploration, new material technology research and development, and mineral washing and processing. On July 5th, Guocheng Holdings Group registered a wholly-owned subsidiary, Markang Guocheng Guokang Mining Co., Ltd., in Markang with a registered capital of 200 million yuan. Its business scope includes the extraction of non-coal mineral resources, sales of metal ores, sales of non-metallic minerals and products, etc.

The domestic lithium carbonate market continues to decline. According to the latest quotation from Shanghai Nonferrous Network, on August 11th, the price of domestic battery-grade lithium carbonate dropped by 3,000 yuan to 244,000 yuan, hitting a two-month low and falling for 23 consecutive days. The lithium carbonate futures also continued to decline, with the main contract falling more than 4% at one point, closing at 207,700 yuan/ton, the lowest since its listing. However, despite the sharp decline in lithium prices, it seems that it does not affect the enthusiasm of the market to compete for lithium mines.

In this regard, industry professionals believe that, first of all, investment in lithium mines is a long-term investment, and its value cannot be measured by the current lithium price. The current lithium price only reflects the current supply and demand situation. Secondly, from the perspective of the industry, in the past three years, the entire industry has made a lot of profits, and companies need to reinvest. The best investment should be in the resource end. Thirdly, overseas mining is highly uncertain, while domestic lithium resources are relatively safer.

It is reported that many companies have won mining rights in Sichuan, such as Rongjie Shares' Methyl Card Lithium Pyroxene Mine in Kangding City, Qilithium's Cuola Lithium Pyroxene Mine in Yajiang County, Xingneng Group's Dechenoluo Lithium Pyroxene Mine in Yajiang County, Shengxin Lithium Energy's Yelonggou Lithium Pyroxene Mine in Jinchuan County, Zhonghe Shares' Dangba Lithium Pyroxene Mine in Markang County, Chuanneng Power and Yahua Group's Lijiagou Lithium Pyroxene Mine in Jinchuan County, etc.

At present, the competition for the two lithium mines involves listed companies such as CATL, Tianqi Lithium, Zijin Mining, Yahua Group, Chuanneng Power, Shengxin Lithium Energy, Tianhua New Energy, etc. Among them, Tianhua New Energy announced on August 9th that its subsidiary, Tianyi Lithium, will participate in the exploration rights competition for Jada Lithium Mine.

The "Overall Plan for Mineral Resources in Sichuan Province (2021-2025)" released in February this year proposes that the annual mining volume of lithium ores in Sichuan will reach 1 million tons by 2025, and by 2035, an industrial cluster of lithium mines in western Sichuan will be formed.

Industry professionals believe that with more and more state-owned enterprises and listed companies entering the lithium industry in Sichuan, it will play a strong role in promoting the development and utilization of lithium resources, as well as the development of lithium salts and lithium batteries. The development of Sichuan's lithium industry is receiving more attention and support from policies, and the development of lithium mines in Sichuan may accelerate.