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How did you get into the lithium industry? When did the lithium journey start?
It was luck! I had no idea what lithium was before I joined the industry. My university was connected to the Xinjiang Non-Ferrous Metals Industry Group, a state-owned company and lithium is part of that group. After I graduated from university in Beijing in the early 1990s my first job was with the Xinjiang lithium plant in my home province.
How did you and Mr Li Liangbin, Chairman of Ganfeng Lithium, meet?
In the late 1990s Li Liangbin had started a company focussed on the production of lithium metal. He needed to secure raw materials from abroad. At the beginning he used lithium chloride but he wanted to use lithium carbonate. At the time Xinjiang Non-Ferrous was the exclusive distributor of SQM’s lithium carbonate in China. Mr Li was looking for a supplier, he approached me and we got to know each other.
Looking back 30 years ago, what were the drivers to get into the lithium business?
When I started in the lithium industry the main users of lithium carbonate were the ceramics and glass industries and the aluminium smelters. Lithium hydroxide was mainly used in the manufacture of grease lubricants. In China all university graduates have to do a period in production. I worked in lithium hydroxide and carbonate production for nine months. Then I was moved to the sales department where I sold lithium metal. At the time it was a niche market and lithium metal was primarily used in the synthetic rubber industry with small amounts used by the pharmaceutical industry and in the manufacture of primary batteries. Today Ganfeng Lithium is the largest lithium metal producer in the world.
What technological developments do you foresee for the lithium battery industry?
The lithium battery industry still has room to develop and improve in terms of the cathode, the anode and the electrolyte. Solid state is definitely one of the future technologies which could be revolutionary. We got into the solid state battery segment because we are trying to build a market for lithium metal. We want to develop this technology and so we need to create demand for lithium metal.
Your passion for the lithium business is noteworthy. What is behind this?
I am curious. When I joined Xinjiang Non-Ferrous my boss, Mr Gao, gave me a collection of books with all the different applications for lithium. Those books had a great influence on me. When you can see that technology can lead to huge changes in the world you feel excited. I enjoy my work!
What initiatives is Ganfeng Lithium taking to meet environmental social and governance (ESG) guidelines and reduce its carbon footprint?
Actually, the ESG guidelines are highly aligned with GanfengLithium's strategies. If you look at the history of Ganfeng Lithium we have always been focussed on reducing energy consumption. We have key performance indicators (KPIs) to reduce energy consumption per metric tonne of lithium metal. In 2004 we supplied lithium metal to the pharmaceutical industry which used it as a catalyst resulting in large volumes of residues which contained lithium. The pharmaceutical industry did not know how to dispose of the residues. Mr Li worked out how to recycle those liquids and that became a unique and sustainable business model. We supply lithium metal and take back the residues to be recycled. Thus, more than 90% of the lithium from this application is recycled.
Lithium batteries and mitigating carbon emissions go together. We are in an industry that will help the world reduce carbon emissions and this includes the need to reduce emissions from lithium production processes. We have looked at every aspect of the business to reduce emissions and costs. We try to use different processes as emissions are determined by the process you deploy.
At the Mariana brine project in Argentina we considered whether to build a gas pipeline or use diesel power. Both were polluting and expensive so we decided to use 100% solar power. We invested in 280 megawatts of energy storage using lithium batteries. Going green creates more demand for our products! We believe that ESG is the right model.
Our chemical and battery production plants in China have solar panels which generate clean and cheap energy. We want to cover the roofs of all our facilities across the world with solar panels. Solar energy is one of the lowest in cost but we have to invest in energy storage. We need to produce more lithium to ensure that lithium batteries are affordable.
What is your view of the development of lepidolite in China? How can it be developed in a responsible way?
The challenge with lepidolite is that the lithium grade is lower so more waste is generated and it may contain contaminants like heavy metals. Open pit mining in China is difficult and has a big footprint. Lepidolite could be a good source of lithium but it needs to be extracted in an environmentally friendly way. Underground mining could be a good option as it would have a smaller footprint and less waste would be generated. We need to find ways to use the waste from lepidolite mining.
Do you drive an electric vehicle?
Yes! I bought a Tesla at the end of 2017. At the beginning of that year I set myself a challenge. I promised myself that I’d buy a Tesla if Ganfeng Lithium started supplying lithium chemicals to Tesla.
How has the rise of the electric vehicle changed China?
It’s a different world. Initially the government promoted electric buses via subsidies to state-owned bus companies. Later the government offered consumers subsidies for electric vehicles (EVs). In the early years it was very challenging because there were not enough good models on the market but in 2021 many new models were launched and consumers began to understand that EVs are better than internal combustion engine cars. EVs help with air quality. It is particularly important that heavy goods vehicles are electric as they are often on the road for ten hours or longer and they often run on diesel. In 2023 Ganfeng Lithium replaced a fleet of 50 diesel trucks with electric ones.
Ganfeng Lithium was a founding Core Member of ILiA and one of the early advocates for a global lithium association. What was the reason for this?
At the time there were many questions about lithium batteries and the lithium industry. We believed that as a leading company in the lithium industry we had the responsibility to help it work better and that it was important that there was a global association to represent the industry.
What message do you have for ILiA members?
I would like to congratulate all ILiA members for their support of the Association. Lithium helps the world to reduce carbon emissions. As member companies we need to set high ESG standards. We need to set a good example and produce lithium in a clean way. It is not just our products that will help the world become cleaner but also how we produce the lithium. Our production processes needs further investment and development to improve their ESG credentials. We are investing and working on that and hope that our fellow members can work together to achieve that shared goal.
