An employee of Nanchang CENAT New Energy Co checks a production line of lithium batteries on September 7, 2017. The company supplies the product for new-energy vehicles made by Jiangling Motors Corp based in Nanchang, capital of East China's Jiangxi Province. Photo: VCG

Some listed enterprises in Yichun, East China’s Jiangxi Province, which is known as the “lithium capital of Asia,” have temporarily suspended lithium production following an environmental investigation of a local river due to abnormal water quality. 

A Jiangxi-based subsidiary of Yongxing Materials listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange issued a notice on November 29, announcing it would temporarily suspend operation at its lithium carbonate smelting production line in order to cooperate with an investigation launched by ecological and environmental authorities in Gao’an, Jiangxi, regarding the abnormal water quality of the local Jin river.

A lithium company under Anshan Heavy Duty and two lithium companies under Zheng Jiang Kanglongda Special Protection Technology in Jiangxi also temporarily suspended production as the local industrial park is upgrading its infrastructure, the companies announced earlier in December.  

A report on Monday by thepaper.cn said the possible reason for lithium companies in Yichun suspending operation at the same time could be the abnormal water quality issue related to the Jin river caused by metal pollution, as the tantalum level exceeds the standard, citing a source close to the matter.  

The source added that heavy metal pollution of the Jin river in the Gao’an section is serious, and the Jiangxi provincial government has sent out an investigation team to look into the issue. 

In 2021, Yichun produced 81,000 tons of lithium carbonate, more than a quarter of the country’s total, while the local production of lepidolite concentrate and lithium carbonate production will reach 7 million tons and 500,000 tons respectively by 2025, according to stcn.com.

Meanwhile, Yichun's new-energy industry, a big user of lithium, is growing rapidly. As of June 2022, 146 new-energy enterprises had been established locally with more than 100 lithium projects under construction and total investment of 121.5 billion yuan ($17.38 billion), per the report from stcn.com. 

According to a notice issued by the local ecological environment bureau in November, it carried out research into lithium industry enterprises, which revealed many environmental hazards in the city's lithium industry, stcn reported. 

The notice said that responsible authorities would organize for a number of research groups to carry out a comprehensive investigation of the lithium industry chain, in a bid to unify standards, set up standard requirements, and promote the high-quality development of the industry.