Zijin Mining Group Company Limited(601899) 3q lithium salt lake project was started to seize the profit growth point in the field of new energy
Event: according to the information on Zijin Mining Group Company Limited(601899) official website, on March 20, Argentina time, the commencement ceremony was held for the 3Q Salt Lake Lithium construction project of lithium industry Kosi company, the Zijin Mining Group Company Limited(601899) first lithium mine project, in the center of the Andes in Catamarca province at an altitude of 4100 meters. This indicates that Zijin Mining Group Company Limited(601899) began to officially start in the field of “white oil” lithium ore one and a half months after the delivery of the project.
Comments: the 3Q project may be an important step in Zijin Mining Group Company Limited(601899) developing the lithium sector. The demand for new energy may continue to increase, and the resource premium is expected to continue to appear. Located in the famous “lithium triangle” in South America, 3Q project is one of the best lithium salt lake resources in the world. The construction of the project mainly includes 3qsalar salt field, Fiambala lithium carbonate plant and relevant supporting projects. The mining right area of the project is 353 square kilometers, covering the whole salt lake surface and brine lake. It has large resources, high grade, low impurities and good development conditions. It has good prospecting prospects and great production expansion potential. According to the Zijin Mining Group Company Limited(601899) official website, the company’s salt field construction was officially started on March 20, and the lithium carbonate plant is planned to start construction in early April. The first phase of the project plans to produce 20000 tons of battery grade lithium carbonate annually, with a total investment of 370 million US dollars, and will be officially put into operation at the end of 2023. The feasibility study of the second phase of the project will be carried out simultaneously in 2022, and the company will strive to start construction in 2023 to expand the annual capacity of lithium carbonate to 4 Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Nonfemet Co.Ltd(000060) 000 tons.
3Q project is located in the famous “lithium triangle” in South America. It is one of the best lithium salt lake resources in the world, and its resource quantity and grade rank in the forefront. According to the latest DFS, the 3Q project has a total lithium carbonate equivalent resource of about 7.63 million tons (lithium ion concentration cut-off grade 400mg / L), of which the reserve is 1.67 million tons, accounting for 31% of the proved + controlled resources, and the average lithium ion concentration is 786mg / L. the project has large resources, high level, low impurities and good development conditions.
The inventory of nickel ore continued to be removed, and the price of nickel ore continued to rise
Event: according to SMM, China’s port nickel ore inventory decreased by 32.2% compared with the high in November 2021, and nickel ore prices continued to rise.
Comments: 1) according to SMM, the price of nickel ore has been in an upward trend since August 2020. The price of nickel ore with 1.7% grade increased by 11.5% month on month and 29.2% year-on-year in March. At the same time, nickel ore inventory has been in a volatile downward trend since August 2018, and is in a new round of downward trend recently. Nickel ore price may maintain the growth trend due to the impact of low inventory. The decline of nickel ore inventory is mainly due to the impact of local production capacity in the Philippines and the logistics restrictions of the epidemic. The total amount of imported nickel ore continues to decline. Combined with the strong demand for resumption and expansion of production in the downstream of China, Chinese nickel enterprises can only continue to digest the nickel ore inventory in the port, resulting in the continuous decline of nickel ore inventory.
2) according to SMM, the import of nickel ore in China is mainly laterite nickel ore, and the proportion remains above 95% all year round. As the nickel ore imported by China mainly comes from the Philippines (about 91% of the nickel ore imported in 2021 comes from the Philippines), affected by the rainy season in the Philippines, the import quantity has obvious seasonal characteristics, and the peak often occurs in summer.
3) at present, nickel price fluctuates greatly due to the Lun nickel closing event. Looking forward to the second quarter, the nickel ore export will gradually recover after the rainy season in the Philippines and France, and the capacity of the new production project of Qingshan high matte nickel in the second quarter will climb. The tight supply and demand situation of electrolytic nickel may be gradually alleviated, and the nickel price may gradually become stable.
Risk warning: sharp decline in demand, unexpected release of supply side, etc
