The discovery of the repository in Yajiang, in central Sichuan province, is “an important achievement for China’s energy security and green development,” the Ministry of Natural Resources said, citing the official Xinhua news agency.
The deposit contains lithium reserves of approximately one million tons.
This announcement comes at a time when China is doubling its efforts to explore internal resources, and seeking to enhance energy security and supply chains, in the context of increasing global competition for access to basic resources such as lithium, a basic material for electric car batteries.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that global demand for lithium could increase more than 40-fold by 2040, so controlling much of the global chain translates into Economic and geopolitical benefits“, as some analysts saw.
China already holds about 7% of the world's identified lithium resources, ranking sixth after Bolivia, Argentina, the United States, Chile and Australia, according to US Geological Survey data reported by local newspapers.
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