China’s lithium production has become easier and significantly cheaper, thanks to a technological breakthrough, just as US concerns about China’s dominance in the supply chain are on the rise, said the South China Morning Post.
The cost of extracting the mineral has been slashed to a “record low” of RMB 15,000 (US$2,180) per ton by the new process, a Chinese government report said.
That compares to an international price for lithium ranging from $12,000 to $20,000 per ton – and a long-term contract price of about $17,000 – over the past year, according to industrial estimates.
While China’s lithium output is still relatively low, it dominates supply of the end product, producing nearly two-thirds of the world’s lithium-ion batteries, compared to the United States’ 5%, and also controls most of the world’s lithium processing facilities, according to data from Benchmark Minerals Intelligence.