By Violet Li and Mei Mei Chu
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese battery giant CATL has reopened its lithium lepidolite mine and refinery in Jiangxi province, a spokesperson for its refinery joint venture partner Lopal Tech said on Tuesday.
The resumption of operations is largely due to CATL’s success bringing down production costs at both facilities, the spokesperson said.
“Currently, the operation is producing over 2,000 tons of lithium carbonate. As we move forward, the plan is to ramp up production to exceed 3,000 tons of lithium carbonate per month,” they said.
Reuters reported on Friday that the mine had restarted, citing a report from UBS. CATL did not respond to emailed questions from Reuters.
CATL’s mine in the southern Chinese province of Jiangxi has been a major contributor to rapidly growing supplies of lithium in China, the world’s top processor of the battery material. Reports of its closure in September had caused lithium stocks to rally sharply.
Lithium miner shares in Australia tumbled on Tuesday on news the mine had restarted.
The most-traded November lithium carbonate futures contract on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange closed at 77,300 yuan ($10,578) a metric ton on Tuesday, down 1.6% from Monday’s close.
CATL’s share price on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange closed at 251.8 yuan on Tuesday, down 2.6% from Monday.
($1 = 7.3073 yuan)
(Reporting by Violet Li and Mei Mei Chu; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
