Economic Observer reporter Wang Yajie

In August 2026, the compliance renewal of several lithium mica mines in Yichun, Jiangxi is currently underway.

According to the Economic Observer, as of press time, some core mines are still in the stage of reserve verification, transfer income evaluation or review meetings, and the relevant resumption of production approvals have not been fully implemented.

A person close to the Ministry of Natural Resources said, "Previously, during the local approval stage, some mines used non-metallic mineral certificates to mine lithium resources for a long time, which not only caused the loss of national rights and interests in mineral resources, but also posed hidden dangers to safety production and environmental protection. The next step is to bring lithium resource development back to the track of the rule of law

At present, lithium is listed in the strategic mineral catalog, and the approval authority for exploration and mining is to a certain extent restricted. Renewal of main mineral types and changes in mining rights require approval from the Ministry of Natural Resources or its authorized provincial-level natural resources department, with preliminary review work undertaken at the city and county levels.

The informal elasticity space of domestic lithium carbonate upstream supply is narrowing, and short-term fluctuations have increased.

Approval And Closure

According to a reporter from the Economic Observer, this round of compliance adjustments will begin in July 2025 and will gradually enter the second batch of centralized mine shutdown and license renewal stage from April to May 2026. The direct basis is the new version of the Mineral Resources Law that will be implemented in July 2025 and the supporting "Implementation Regulations of the Mineral Resources Law of the People's Republic of China" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Regulations") that will come into effect on June 15, 2026.

According to the Implementation Regulations and the supporting implementation rules of the Ministry of Natural Resources, core issues related to the establishment of new lithium mining exploration rights, new mining rights, and changes in the main mineral types of mining rights shall be uniformly organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources or approved by the provincial natural resources authority authorized by it, and the city and county levels shall undertake the preliminary review work.

The person close to the Ministry of Natural Resources mentioned above told the Economic Observer that the rectification in the second half of 2025 has been launched, but the operational path for local governments and enterprises is not yet clear enough. After the implementation of the regulations in June 2026, the verification and implementation of detailed rules at the provincial and ministerial levels will be further accelerated, and the wave of production shutdowns and license renewals since April and May will enter a new approval stage.

Chen Fan, a mining management staff member of Yichun Natural Resources Bureau, introduced that the current domestic production capacity of lithium carbonate mainly relies on three routes and three major production areas: lithium extraction from salt lakes is concentrated in the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai Province (such as Qarhan and Dongtai Jinnaer); Lithium extraction from lithium mica is concentrated in Yichun, Jiangxi (the lithium capital of Asia, where the vast majority of domestic mica lithium extraction capacity is concentrated); Lithium extraction from spodumene is concentrated in Ganzi and Aba (mineralization areas such as Mekka and Keryin) in Sichuan Province. Although there are lithium resources in Xizang (Zabuye, Laguocuo Salt Lake), Xinjiang (Dahongliutan, West Kunlun), Hunan (Linwu, Chenzhou), Gansu and other places, the large-scale production capacity is relatively limited. Yichun, Jiangxi Province is the largest lithium mica ore distribution center in Asia, known as the "Asian Lithium Capital". The vast majority of domestic mica lithium extraction capacity is concentrated here.

The above-mentioned person close to the Ministry of Natural Resources stated that this round of concentrated special rectification for "inconsistent certification of mines" by the Ministry of Natural Resources is mainly concentrated in Yichun. There is no historical legacy of large-scale exploitation of lithium resources through non-metallic mineral certificates in the main production areas of Qinghai Salt Lake and Sichuan spodumene. The historical work of confirming the ownership of associated lithium resources in some salt lakes in Qinghai has been carried out, but the ownership system has been basically sorted out in the previous round of mineral planning. When the mining rights of Sichuan spodumene main production area were established, the main mineral types were basically matched with the actual mining. The real concentrated contradiction of "inconsistent certification and mining" piled up in Yichun. Around 2010, the local government registered non-metallic minerals such as ceramic soil, porcelain stone, and kaolin, and actually mined lithium mica. Yichun became the core of this round of approval and rectification.

Chen Fan told reporters that since July, he and his colleagues have mainly done two things: preliminary review of rectification materials for existing mines, and cooperation with higher-level departments for on-site verification. He said that some companies have asked if it is possible to resume production first and complete the procedures at the same time. According to the new regulations, such operations involving safety and mineral resource rights are not allowed, and the staff have responded to the company in accordance with the rules.

Chen Fan said, "In the early stages of the industry, local governments were relatively flexible in approval in order to quickly form production capacity." After the implementation of the new regulations, the compliance progress of Yichun mines will affect the supply of raw materials for mica based lithium carbonate nationwide.

A local porcelain clay mine worker, Chen Fang, told reporters that the mine has suspended production since mid May in accordance with rectification requirements, and the original production personnel have shifted to data sorting and preparation for approval.

Chen Fang said, "We used to obtain porcelain clay mineral certificates and mined lithium mica, but now we need to reapply for mineral types." He said that the application materials involve re accounting of mining reserves, rewriting of development and utilization plans, and changes in environmental impact assessments. After all are completed and reported step by step, we will wait for the department to arrange for review.

Chen Fang told reporters that the prominent feature of the supply of mica mines in Yichun in the past was the large short-term elasticity. Enterprises had orders and needed to expand production, and nearby small mines could replenish the supply within a few days. But the other side of this so-called "elasticity" is the long-standing industry chaos of "inconsistent certification of mines" and excessive mining beyond the boundaries, which is essentially an extensive supply under non compliant conditions. All newly added mining increments now require national level approval processes, and industry standardization continues to strengthen. The compliance capacity scale of regional mines has been framed, and there is no room for short-term rapid increase of mining output.

Chen Fan also confirmed that if a company wants to increase the scale of lithium mining, it must complete the national level full process approval. The approval progress is determined by the mineral planning and compliance verification progress of the department, and local authorities will no longer intervene.

The domestic route of extracting lithium from mica has since bid farewell to the "on-demand mining" model. The amount of ore that a mine can produce no longer depends on how many orders the enterprise has, but on the progress of compliance rectification and verification.

Smelting Plant Turning

After the local mines in Yichun entered the rectification and shutdown process in batches, the transmission effect first fell on the lithium carbonate smelting process.

According to the Economic Observer, more than one smelting enterprise that mainly uses mica lithium extraction technology has had lower actual operating rates since the second quarter compared to the same period last year.

Li, the production manager of a medium-sized lithium carbonate smelting plant in Yichun, told reporters that the mica lithium extraction production line in the plant is not fully opened yet. Previously, when there was a shortage of local mines, nearby small mines could replenish the supply within a week. Now, the relevant supporting mines are waiting for approval.

Zhao Minghui, the production manager of a lithium carbonate smelting plant with an annual production capacity of 20000 tons in Yichun, told reporters that there are currently two production lines in the plant, but only one has been opened. He dare not fully open them, fearing that the raw materials may not be able to hold up.

Zhao Minghui stated that in the past, when local mineral supply was sufficient, the stocking cycle in the factory was controlled at around 7 to 10 days. The ore is transported from the surrounding area, and the shipping cost per ton is several tens of yuan. The local mining resources are currently interrupted, and we can only transfer goods from other places. He gave an example that transporting lithium carbonate from salt lakes in Qinghai to Yichun would cost several hundred yuan per ton of freight, not including intermediate storage and losses.

The turn has already begun to land.

Zhou Qi, the production manager of a lithium extraction enterprise in a salt lake in Qinghai, told reporters that in the first half of 2026, there will be a significant increase in the number of enterprises coming to Qinghai to connect with salt lake lithium resources, many of which are smelters in Jiangxi.

Zhou Qi said, "In the past, they only looked at local mines in Yichun. Now they are actively approaching to negotiate long-term contracts and directly asking if it is possible to sign a three-year or five-year contract." The production capacity ramp up period for salt lake lithium extraction is long, but the certificate of ownership is clear and the approval process is stable. In Zhou Qi's eyes, this is a certainty that the current mining plants in Yichun cannot provide.

A staff member from the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Qinghai Province confirmed to the Economic Observer that in the first half of 2026, there will be a significant increase in cooperation talks received by lithium salt extraction enterprises in Qinghai Province from smelters in other provinces. Previously, the main ones who came to discuss cooperation were battery factories and positive electrode material factories. This year, the proportion of lithium salt factories has begun to increase. The staff said that the development of salt lake resources also requires national level approval, but the certificate system was established earlier and there are fewer historical legacy issues. The approval process for new production capacity is smoother than that of Yichun Mica Mine.

The person close to the Ministry of Natural Resources mentioned above told reporters that the difference in approval paths for lithium extraction from salt lakes and mica is not due to policy preferences, but rather the different historical development maturity of the two types of resources. The certification system for salt lake resources has been basically streamlined in the previous round of mineral planning, but there is a historical problem of inconsistent certification for Yichun mica mine, and centralized rectification will inevitably have a painful period. The person said that in the long run, the domestic lithium resource supply will form a diversified pattern of salt lake lithium extraction, lithium mica lithium extraction, spodumene lithium extraction, and battery recycling, and the approval management will continue to be optimized. Compliance is a necessary path, and the short-term impact on the supply side will gradually dissipate after the rectification of existing mines is completed.

Capacity Ceiling

The recycling end of power batteries is taking on the incremental demand from smelters.

He Yonggang, the head of a lithium battery recycling company in Guangdong, told reporters that the number of inquiries for recycled lithium carbonate received by the company in the first half of the year has more than doubled compared to the same period last year. Previously, the price inquiries were mainly from small and medium-sized battery factories, but this year there have been many lithium salt factories, and their main concern is whether they can provide stable supply.

He Yonggang stated that the recycling of lithium does not involve the mining approval process, and the expansion of production capacity is not constrained by mining approval. It is an important supplement to hedge against fluctuations in raw materials under the background of compliance.

Chen Fan stated that the mining certificate specifies the upper limit of the annual mining scale, and changes in mineral types do not involve capacity expansion.

A number of local mining personnel in Yichun confirmed to the Economic Observer that the mines with stable and compliant production capacity in the region have not been approved to increase mining output on a large scale. The basis for determining compliant production capacity is the original mining certificate, and the new certificate only changes the type of ore without significantly adjusting the scale.

Even if all the rectification measures are completed in this round, the annual recoverable total amount of Yichun mica lithium will still be based on the production capacity range approved before the compliance rectification at this stage. The final recoverable scale will be dynamically adjusted based on the results of reserve review and compliance verification of mineral planning, and is not an unconditional fixed upper limit. In the past, the industry relied on flexible incremental supply from overexploitation and small mines, which limited operational space under the new regulatory framework.

(At the request of the interviewee, Chen Fang, Zhou Qi, and Chen Fan are given pseudonyms)