Chenzhou, a renowned hometown of nonferrous metals in China, has recently gained prominence with its newly discovered “treasure”--lithium resources. With the preliminary proven lithium oxide reserves reaching 12 million tons, the city has rapidly emerged as a key pivot in China’s lithium battery and new energy landscape.

“Chenzhou is rich in mineral resources, but we cannot rely solely on mining and selling raw ores,” said Kan Baoyong, a deputy to the National People’s Congress (NPC), deputy secretary of the CPC Chenzhou Municipal Committee and mayor of Chenzhou City, in an interview on March 9.

He emphasized that Chenzhou should intensify the cultivation and growth of new driving forces, shift from selling raw materials to finished products, from low-end production to high-end manufacturing, actively explore the integrated development of the lithium battery new energy industrial chain, and build a leading “battery city” in the province and even the country.

The confidence stems from strong policy support. Kan Baoyong introduced that the provincial government attaches great importance to the development of the lithium battery industry in Chenzhou, incorporating the city as an important pole in the strategic layout of the province's lithium battery and advanced energy storage materials industry. Key policies such as the “Ten Measures for Lithium Industry” and “Twelve Measures for Mining Industry” have been issued to fully support Chenzhou in expanding, optimizing, and strengthening the lithium battery new energy industry.

The confidence also comes from its solid foundations. In recent years, Chenzhou has focused on strengthening its industrial chain, carried out targeted investment promotion, and attracted over 200 chain-leading enterprises and related companies from Shanghai Ane, Ganfeng Lithium, and Dazhong Mining, covering the entire upstream and downstream of the industry.

Meanwhile, it has also accumulated a number of mature technologies, improved facilities and professional talents in areas such as mining and smelting, forming a “resource closed loop” and a complete industrial supporting system.

The first meeting after this year’s Spring Festival holiday focused on promoting the upgrading of industrial development. Kan Baoyong pointed out that three “upgrades” must be achieved to advance the development of lithium battery and new energy industry.

The first is the upgrade from single mining to comprehensive industrial chain layout. Enterprises will be guided to integrate mining, beneficiation, smelting, materials, battery cells, battery manufacturing, equipment manufacturing, battery recycling and research and development in Chenzhou, and accelerate the construction of the entire industrial chain from mineral resources, battery materials, battery manufacturing, equipment manufacturing to battery recycling.

The second is the upgrade from simple processing to technological innovation.

“We should introduce more enterprises that possess new technologies and unique expertise to enhance the core competitiveness of the industry.” Kan Baoyong noted. He took Ane Qisheng, a company that recently settled in Chenzhou, as an example. Its tailings-free utilization technology for lithium ore resources can ensure that lithium ore is fully utilized with zero tailings in mining.

At the same time, relying on platforms including Chenjiang Laboratory, Chenzhou will make good use of the research capabilities of major universities and research institutes such as Central South University, Hunan University and Xiangtan University to tackle core and cutting-edge technologies like solid-state lithium batteries, accelerating the pace to seize new development tracks.

The third is the upgrade from enterprise agglomeration to industrial ecosystem. Chenzhou will continuously improve service guarantees, optimize the business environment, and strengthen policy coordination, striving to cultivate an industrial ecosystem featuring upstream-downstream synergy, integration of large ,medium and small enterprises, and joint efforts from all parties.

Chinese source: hunantoday