Lithium carbonate manufacturing equipment can be seen in Golmud in Northwest China's Qinghai Province on Saturday. Construction of a new lithium carbonate plant invested by Chinese new-energy carmaker BYD and Qinghai Salt Lake Industry Co started on the same day, chinanews.com reported. The new plant will produce 30,000 tons of lithium carbonate, a raw material for making lithium batteries. Photo: VCG

Chile's consul general in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, Gustavo Díaz Hidalgo on Wednesday vowed to further enhance cooperation with China in the lithium sector, in a bid to stabilize the global supply of the vital mineral for making batteries, Chinese media outlet thepaper.cn reported on Wednesday.

The remark was made at the 2022 China (Suining) International Conference on the Lithium Battery Industry and the Symposium on New Energy Vehicles and the Power Battery Industry, held in Suining, Sichuan Province by the consulate general. Diaz predicted that the global demand for lithium each year would surpass 1 million tons by 2025, crossing 2.5 million tons by 2030.
 
The consul general said that China's consumption of lithium accounted for 65 percent in the global lithium market, driven partly by the fast-developing new-energy vehicle sector and the energy storage industry, along with the country's carbon emissions reduction goals.
 
"Chile's lithium mining and export volume has seen an increase thanks to strong demand from the Chinese market, and it has become one of Chile's most important export commodities," said the consul general during the conference, noting that Chile's share of the global lithium supply volume has reached 38 percent.  

the consul general also mentioned that Chile is building an operation system for the domestic lithium mining industry and an innovation mechanism for relevant products including batteries.  

Chile has among the world's largest lithium reserves. The Atacama salt flat in the north of Chile has 8.3 million tons of lithium reserves, accounting for 22 percent of the global total.  

Tianqi Lithium, one of China's largest lithium producers, clinched a cooperation contract in 2018 with Chilean lithium miner SQM to co-develop the Atacama salt flat. 

Global Times