Zhite New Materials is banned from participating in the transfer of mining rights within three years

 

On April 23, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Department of Natural Resources (hereinafter referred to as the Xinjiang Department of Natural Resources) issued an announcement to disqualify Zhite New Materials from bidding and impose joint punishment on it, prohibiting it from participating in the national mining rights transfer transaction within three years.

 

The announcement shows that due to its own reasons, Zhite New Materials did not sign the "Prospecting Rights Assignment Contract" as stipulated in the assignment announcement.

 

In February of this year, Zhite New Materials won the exploration and prospecting rights of the Washixia South Lithium Mine (hereinafter referred to as the Washixia South Lithium Mine) in Ruoqiang County, Xinjiang for 6 billion yuan. This price is 385 times higher than the starting price, which has aroused great concern in the industry.

 

The publicity period for the transaction results of the Washixia South Lithium Mine is from February 21 to March 6. During this period, there was no objection to the announcement of the transaction result.

 

According to the auction rules, Zhite New Materials should sign the confirmation letter of the "Prospecting Rights Transfer Contract" within ten working days after the end of the publicity period, that is, before March 20, and then pay the transfer income determined by the listing competition in one lump sum (amount part ).

 

The Washixia South Lithium Mine was transferred by the Ministry of Natural Resources and was listed at the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Government Affairs Service and Public Resource Trading Center on December 20, 2022. The specific work was organized by the Xinjiang Department of Natural Resources.

 

In early April, Jiemian News exclusively learned that no formal contract had been signed after the auction of the Washixia South Lithium Mine.

 

After the above-mentioned auction of Zhite New Materials was successful, the price of lithium carbonate fell all the way, and by mid-April it had fallen below the 200,000 yuan mark.

 

"The auction price of 6 billion yuan is definitely not worth it now." Someone in the lithium battery industry once told Jiemian News.

 

The Washixia South Lithium Mine is located in the Altyn lithium polymetallic metallogenic belt. The Geological Society of China determined in 2022 that the mine is one of the Altyn Lithium Beryllium rare metal mineralizations, and it was evaluated that the Washixia South Lithium Mine has large-scale resource potential.

 

The Third Geological Brigade of the Xinjiang Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources conducted pre-examination work in the mining area and found 30 granite-pegmatite veins, of which three pegmatite veins were delineated as three lithium-beryllium rare metal orebodies, with long-term exposures intermittently. 300-2400m, ranging from 0.6-10m in width, the average grade of lithium oxide is 1.56%, which is higher than the domestic average.

 

Zhite New Materials was established in 2022, and there are many leading companies behind it.

 

There are three direct shareholders of Zhite New Materials, namely Ruoqiang Zhicun New Materials Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Ruoqiang Zhicun New Materials), Xinjiang TBEA Loulan New Energy Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Loulan New Energy) and Ruoqiang County State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission holds 49%, 35% and 16% of the shares respectively.

 

The largest shareholder Ruoqiang Zhicun New Materials is indirectly affiliated to Zhicun Lithium Industry Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Zhicun Lithium Industry), which is headquartered in Yichun, Jiangxi; the second largest shareholder Loulan New Energy is affiliated to the listed company TBEA (600089.SH).

 

Ningde Times (300750.SZ) originally held a 23.16% stake in Zhicun Lithium and was the second largest shareholder. On March 10, the Tianyancha App showed that Zhicun Lithium had undergone industrial and commercial changes, and CATL withdrew from the company's shareholders.

 

Previously, Sichuan Snowway Mining, which was auctioned for 2 billion yuan, also suffered regret. In May 2021, Snowway Mining was photographed by Tan Wei. With the arrival of the payment deadline, Tan Wei failed to pay in time, and regretted the auction. The mine was eventually acquired by CATL (300750.SZ).