Posted on 30 Sep 2025
China’s state-owned company Tibet Mining has recently launched the Zabuye Salt Lake project in Tibet, planning to produce 9,600 tonnes/year of battery-grade lithium carbonate, Kallanish learns.
Production capacity also includes 2,400 t/y of industrial-grade lithium carbonate, 156,000 t/y of by-product potassium chloride, and 200 t/y of rubidium-caesium mixed salt.
The company claims to be the first to adopt membrane separation and mechanical vapour recompression (MVR) technology for lithium extraction from salt lakes, which involves complex technical debugging, environmental adaptation, and product validation. Additionally, it must overcome challenging construction conditions such as high-altitude and cold working conditions.
Trial production started in June, and the project started construction in June 2022.
According to Tibet Mining, the Zabuye Salt Lake has proven lithium reserves of 1.8 million t. It is rich in lithium, boron, and potassium, both in solid and liquid form. Its brine lithium concentration is second only to Chile’s Atacama Salt Lake, and its lithium grade ranks second in the world, the company claims.
With an investment of CNY 2.0 billion ($280.35 million), the project is touted to offer significant cost advantages, with production costs 20% lower than those of other salt lakes in China and about 50-70% lower than those of lithium ore extraction.
As of August 2021, Tibet Mining owns 50.72% of the project, while Tianqi Lithium holds 20%, and BYD owns 18%.
Source:Kallanish
