165438+1On October 29th, Securities Times E Company learned that the water quality of Jinjiang, the "mother river" in Yichun, was abnormal, which was caused by the excessive Ta (Ta) element. The enterprise that the lithium carbonate smelting production line in Yichun area was temporarily stopped by the local environmental protection department is not Yongxing New Energy.
Around the slag treatment, a series of problems are exposed, which is the personal experience of a reporter from Securities Times E Company who visited the industrial chain construction of Yichun lithium battery on the spot. For details, please refer to Deconstruction of Mica: Slag Treatment Becomes the Problem of Five-fold Growth of Production Capacity in Four Years published by Securities Times on September 2 1 2022. "The actual amount of slag is coming! Mica has a strong ability to extract lithium and absorb gold, and its four-year output has increased five times. Yichun ceramic factories have switched to lithium smelting.
Ta element exceeds the standard
Announcement of Yongxing Materials, a leading mica lithium extraction enterprise, at noon on June 29th, 165438. "Recently, the lithium carbonate smelting production line of Jiangxi Yongxing Special Steel New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as" Yongxing New Energy "), a wholly-owned subsidiary, needs to be temporarily suspended due to environmental investigation."
According to the announcement, Gao 'an City, Jiangxi Province found that the water quality of Jinjiang water source was abnormal during daily monitoring, and the ecological and environmental protection department was conducting investigations in the upstream and downstream. Yongxing New Energy temporarily stopped production of lithium carbonate smelting production line to cooperate with environmental protection investigation.
Gao 'an City is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Yichun City, Jiangxi Province, and Jinjiang is the largest river in the area. Jinjiang originates from Tangzhe Village, Huaci Town, Yuanzhou District, Yichun City. It is a first-class tributary of Ganjiang River, with a total length of 294 kilometers and a drainage area of 7,650 square kilometers. Flowing through Wanzai, Yifeng, Shanggao and Gaoan, it is the main drinking water source for urban residents and rural people along the line, and also the mother river of Yichun people.
Securities Times E Company noticed that on June 25th, 165438+ Gao 'an Municipal Government issued an announcement through WeChat WeChat official account of Gaoquan Media Center: During daily monitoring, the water quality of Jinjiang water source was abnormal, and the reason was under investigation. In order to ensure the public's water safety, Hu Sha Waterworks and the Second Waterworks will suspend domestic water supply. The affected domestic water of Huangsha, Shanghu and Taojian bases will be allocated from the upstream reservoir and Bishan reservoir to ensure that the production and domestic water of enterprises and residents will not be affected.
What does the abnormal water quality in Jinjiang mean? "According to Yichun Environmental Protection Department, in daily monitoring, it was found that Ta element in Jinjiang water quality exceeded the standard. The lepidolite in Yichun is often associated with tantalum, so the local government suspects that it is related to lithium extraction by lithium carbonate smelting enterprises. " 165438+1On October 29th, a lithium salt enterprise in Yichun told Securities Times E Company.
According to public information, Ta element, namely tantalum, is a metal element, and its corresponding elemental substance is steel gray metal, which has extremely high corrosion resistance and does not react with hydrochloric acid, concentrated nitric acid and aqua regia in both cold and hot conditions. Because of their very similar properties, niobium and tantalum were once considered to be the same element.
Why does the water quality of Jinjiang exceed the standard of Ta element, and the local environmental protection department is suspected to point to the lithium carbonate smelter? This is not unrelated to the existing form of lepidolite resources in Yichun.
Yichun, known as the "Lithium Capital of Asia", is characterized by associated polymetallic elements such as tantalum, niobium, cesium, rubidium and lithium. Among them, Yichun Tantalum and Niobium Mine Co., Ltd. (commonly known as "4 14 Mine") is not only the largest tantalum mine in China, but also the largest lepidolite mine in the world.
It turns out that after Yichun 4 14 Mine extracted tantalum, niobium and other metal elements from porcelain clay ore, the remaining lepidolite resources in slag were treated as waste and piled up in a mountain stream dam. However, with the rising price of lithium carbonate, 4 14 mine was once regarded as a lepidolite resource of slag, and now it has become a beacon for local lithium carbonate extraction enterprises.
More than one company is prohibited from extracting lithium.
For yongxing new energy lithium carbonate smelting production line,165438+129 October, yongxing materials emphasized to company e that "the listed companies only cooperated with the investigation and temporarily stopped production, which cannot explain that the current water quality abnormality in Jinjiang is related to the company. In the end, you need to wait for the investigation results of the environmental protection department. "
Yongxing New Energy was established in August, 2065438+2007, which is the main implementation platform for the new energy business of Yongxing material lithium battery. In 20021year, the new energy business of yongxing materials lithium battery achieved lithium carbonate sales of 1. 1.2 million tons, with a net profit of 469 million yuan. From June 5438 to September 2022, the new energy business of Yongxing Material Lithium Battery achieved a sales volume of 65.438+0.38 million tons of lithium carbonate and a net profit of 4.032 billion yuan. In the first three quarters of this year, the net profit of Yongxing Materials was 42.7 1 100 million yuan. In other words, the net profit of lithium battery new energy business accounts for nearly 95% of the net profit of listed companies.
Yongxing new energy lithium carbonate smelting production line was temporarily suspended, and the capital market was in an uproar. 165438+1At noon on October 29th, Yongxing Material's share price immediately fell, and suffered its first daily limit since 10, becoming the only stock in the A-share market that day.
According to the list released after the market, the top five business departments with the largest sales amount, including four institutional seats and one Shenzhen Stock Connect seat, sold a total of 388 million yuan.
"Yongxing New Energy has always been in the leading position in extracting lithium from mica, and its investment in environmental protection is also relatively high. No environmental problems were found in the usual self-examination and monitoring. At the same time, Yongxing New Energy was stopped to cooperate with the investigation, and the lithium extraction enterprises that were stopped were not just Yongxing New Energy. As far as we know, other lithium carbonate smelters in Yifeng area have also been stopped. " Yongxing materials told reporters.
Because of the abnormal water quality in Jinjiang, it is not known how many local lithium carbonate smelters were stopped by Yichun environmental protection department. However, on June 29th, 165438+ some local people in Yichun told Company E, "It is understood that there are also lithium carbonate smelting enterprises in Wanzai County, which have temporarily stopped production for unknown reasons."
Jinjiang, which flows through Shanggao, Gaoan, Wanzai and Yifeng in Yichun, is an important new energy source for lithium batteries in Yichun.
According to the public information, the reporter of Company E found that in four counties and cities of Yichun, namely Shanggao, Gao 'an, Wanzai and Yifeng, besides Yongxing New Energy under Yongxing Materials, there are also enterprises such as Heather Lithium Industry, Jiangxi Ding Sheng New Materials Technology Co., Ltd. under Yuan Keli (600478) and Tiancheng Lithium Industry under Kanglongda (603665) that have lithium mica mining bases or lithium carbonate smelters. However, it is not known whether the above-mentioned lithium carbonate smelter will temporarily stop production.
There are many environmental hazards in "Lithium Capital of Asia"
With abundant local lepidolite resources, Yichun City is striving to build the world's largest lithium carbonate base, an important domestic cathode material base, the largest domestic negative electrode material base, an important domestic lithium battery production base, an important domestic lithium battery application base, and a well-known national lithium product trading center.
In August this year, when a reporter from Securities Times E Company visited Yichun on the spot, the data provided by relevant local departments showed that as of June 2022, there were 146 lithium-ion new energy enterprises in Yichun, and more than 100 lithium-ion projects were under construction, with a total investment of121500 million yuan. Among them, there are about 20 listed companies and their holding subsidiaries, including Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd., BYD, Guo Xuan Hi-Tech, Ganfeng Lithium Industry and Tianci Materials.
At that time, a lithium carbonate enterprise in Yichun area bluntly told the reporter of Securities Times E Company that the biggest hidden worry and problem of extracting lithium from lepidolite in Yichun was the disposal of waste. The output is small now, and it can still cope. If you can't find a solution after the output comes up, it will be a big problem. At least now it has become everyone's trouble. For related reports, please refer to Deconstruction of Mica: Five-fold Increase of Four-year Production Capacity to Deal with Slag Formation, published in Securities Times on September 2 1 2022.
As everyone knows, the problem of Yichun lithium battery industry chain was exposed as soon as the voice just fell.
The reporter of Securities Times E Company also found that in June this year, 5438+065438+ 10/0, Yichun City Bureau of Ecology and Environment issued a Notice on Suspending the Examination and Approval of Brick Factory, Ceramic Factory's Lithium Slag Roasting and Petroleum Coke Carbonization Project (hereinafter referred to as the Notice), which pointed out that "recently, our bureau has been concerned about.
The Notice clearly pointed out that "some counties and cities give approval in the name of baking petroleum coke in brick factories and secondary lithium extraction from lithium slag in ceramic factories", but because these projects "have certain environmental risks", the Municipal Bureau will suspend the approval of such projects in order to prevent and control risks. Moreover, the "Notice" also requires "all counties, cities and district bureaus to suspend the examination and approval of such projects at the same time and report the relevant project information to the Municipal Bureau in time".
According to the public information, before the above Notice was issued, more than 50 production lines of more than 20 ceramic factories in Yichun, such as Jingcheng, Ganhong, Roewe, Jinfo, Eurasia, Hengdali, Gelaili and Jialemei, had been converted into lithium slag billets, which were distributed in Gao 'an, Yifeng and shanggao county.