This photo taken on Nov. 17, 2023 shows a view of the Salt Lake in Yuncheng City, north China's Shanxi Province. (Photo: Xinhua)

State-owned salt lake mining companies have completed a major restructuring on Saturday, forming a new controlling entity, marking a significant step toward the creation of a world-class salt lake industrial base.

The new entity will have a registered capital of 10 billion yuan ($1.41 billion), with a proposed shareholding structure of 53 percent to be held by China Minmetals Co, 18.73 percent by the Qinghai Provincial State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, and 28.27 percent by Qinghai State-owned Assets Investment Management Co. 

The company's official name has yet to be finalized, according to an announcement by Qinghai Salt Lake Industry Co.

China Minmetals said that the new entity aims to achieve green, efficient, and circular development of salt lake resources, and strengthen China's capacity to secure potash and lithium resources, according to domestic media reports. Lithium could be used in the manufacturing of a variety of products, including electric vehicle batteries and solar panels.

China's lithium reserves are predominantly found in salt lakes, which make up over 80 percent of the country's total lithium deposit, experts said. The reserves are primarily located in China's western regions such as Qinghai and Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region.

Qinghai's Qaidam Basin is home to 33 salt lakes of varying sizes, making it a key hub for China's salt lake brine resources. The proven reserves, estimated at around 400 billion tons, account for more than half of the country's total salt lake resources. 

The integration of the state-owned enterprises will enhance global market positioning by optimizing their capacity to develop salt-lake minerals and seizing opportunities to distribute their products globally, Zhang Yi, CEO of iiMedia Research Institute told the Global Times on Monday.

In recent years, several successful cases of state-owned capital restructuring have contributed to the growth and development of China's industrial sectors.

On September 2, the state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation and China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation announced a major asset restructuring plan to accelerate high-quality shipping sector assembly development, regulate intra-industry competition, and enhance sector performance.

The strategies highlight the consolidation of state-owned resources to achieve major objectives, optimizing asset utilization while avoiding resource waste, and cost inefficiency, Zhang said.

Experts noted that both lake salt and rock salt are key resources to the development of the chemical industry.