Chinese lithium firm reaches milestone in Mali mine project despite strict new rules
26 Dec 2024
Chinese company Ganfeng Lithium has completed a major lithium processing plant in Mali – defying security challenges, a strict new mining code and a lithium supply market glut.
China’s
largest lithium producer, Ganfeng announced that the first phase of its
Goulamina lithium mine, in the southern region of Bougouni, had gone
live in mid-December. It has a planned annual capacity to produce
506,000 tonnes of lithium, which will grow to 1 million tonnes in the second phase.
Considered one of the world’s largest deposits of the critical mineral, it is estimated that the mine could be explored for more than 23 years, producing 15.6 million tonnes of spodumene concentrate over that period.
At
the launch of the plant, Mali’s transitional President Assimi Goita
described his country’s cooperation with China as a “strategic and
sincere” partnership. Goita said the lithium mine is extremely important
for the West African nation
and the launch of the processing plant “marks a significant step
forward in the exploitation of the country’s natural resources”.
Chinese ambassador to Mali Chen Zhihong, who attended the inauguration ceremony, said the Goulamina mine “is a new example of win-win cooperation”.