According to Hunan Daily, the Hunan Provincial Department of Natural Resources disclosed on the 8th that the Hunan Institute of Geological Survey, under the Hunan Geological Academy, has discovered a super-large altered granite-type lithium deposit in the Tongtianmiao section of Jijiaoshan mining area in Linwu County, Hunan Province. The total submitted lithium ore amounts to 490 million tons, with lithium oxide resources totaling 1.31 million tons. At the same time, associated strategic minerals such as rubidium, tungsten, tin, niobium, and tantalum have all reached medium or above scale.
Lithium, known as the "king of metals", is a key element for the development of emerging industries such as new energy vehicles, advanced energy storage, and nuclear industry, and is closely related to people's daily lives. For a time, China's lithium resources faced a high degree of external dependence, with imports accounting for a large proportion, which constrained the development of relevant industries. This newly discovered deposit is large in scale and extends stably; the ore itself is relatively easy to process, which will help Hunan Province to build a trillion-level new energy industrial chain and strongly promote the implementation of the national lithium resource security strategy.
The Hunan Institute of Mineral Resources Survey conducted in-depth data mining of the Jijiaoshan mining area in 2022 and discovered clues to the lithium deposit, preliminarily delineating a lithium-enriched area in February 2023. After Hunan Dazhonghe Lithium Mining Co., Ltd. obtained the exploration rights, it commissioned the Hunan Institute of Mineral Resources Survey to carry out prospecting. The project team overcame transportation difficulties in complex terrain, introduced advanced technologies such as 3D modeling, and promoted precise and efficient exploration. In October 2024, the special team submitted the exploration report, which passed the review and record filing by the Ministry of Natural Resources in December of the same year.
Currently, supporting mining, ore dressing, and smelting construction for the project have been fully launched, driving hundreds of billions of RMB in investment in the local lithium battery industry. Once in full production, annual taxes are expected to reach 400 million RMB (236 million MYR).