Is Russia able to produce lithium
About the imminent lithium deficiency declared new Deputy Director of the Department of Metallurgy and Materials of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Vladislav Demidov. “If there is no raw material, then there can be a very big problem in case of lithium problems in lithium batteries,” Demidov said.
Speaking at the Federation Council, Demidov said that there is no lithium raw material in Russia. It consumes lithium carbonate in the country mainly in Chile, Argentina, China and Bolivia. China, according to Demidov, itself offers an acute shortage of lithium. And after the suspension of supplies from Chile and Argentina, Russia was left with the opportunity to receive raw materials only from Bolivia, he said.
“Almost all Russian manufacturers and consumers of lithium products depend on the start of importing raw materials, from the Liotech lithium battery company to the Kamensk-Ural Metallurgical Plant, which produces semi-finished products from aluminum-lithium alloys,” independent expert Leonid Khazanov agreed. “It turns out to compensate for the lack of our own production of lithium raw materials, which we will not be able to — it is not currently available in our country.”
Why lithium is needed, where and how it is mined
Lithium is the lightest metal in the world. In metallurgy, it is used to deoxidize and increase the ductility and strength of alloys. In optics, it is involved in the manufacture of glasses that protect against ultraviolet rays. In addition, in nuclear power engineering and nuclear technology, it is used to obtain a radioactive isotope of protection – tritium. But the lion’s share of lithium goes into the production of lithium-ion batteries. Growing demand for electric vehicles led to a 400% rise in lithium prices last year.
Lithium carbonate prices are currently hovering around $70,000 per tonne (although they were above about $13,000 last year) due to strong demand from lithium battery manufacturers Khazanov brakes.
The presence of several negative incomes of lithium. With the hydro-mineral method, mineralized groundwater is pumped into pools where evaporation takes place. From the resulting concentrate, lithium carbonate is obtained, which is used by battery manufacturers around the world. In this way, lithium was produced in the so-called “lithium triangle”located in the Andes on the borders of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. There located more than half of Europe’s lithium reserves.
A more expensive method is ore, when the metal is mined in mines or quarries from pegmatites – rocks containing various metals, including lithium. Lithium can also be obtained from waste ore dumps, where the metal is found, since the discovered technologies do not move due to its full, and from batteries that have become obsolete.
By data United States Geological Survey (USGS), the world’s coastal forecast lithium resources as of last year are present in Bolivia, where they were estimated at 21 million tons, Argentina (19 million tons), Chile (9.8 million tons), USA (9. 8 million tons), 1 million tons), Australia (7.3 million tons) and China (5.1 million tons). The forecast volumes of lithium reserves in Russia are estimated at 1 million tons.
The total lithium production in 2021 amounted to about 100,000 tons, an increase of 21% over the year. Most of the lithium production was in Australia – 55,000 tons, Chile – 26,000 tons, China – 14,000 tons and Argentina – 6,200 tons. Bolivia is not included in the list of large producers. By grade The Economist, Bolivia’s lithium production last year was only 600 tons.
This is less than Russia alone needs. “Of the total volume of lithium from imported raw materials (about 2000 tons), 400-700 tons are consumed significantly in Russia, the remaining 1300-1600 tons are exported,” says Khazanov. “Batteries, glass, ceramics, lubricants, aluminum-lithium alloys have been produced.”
Project of Norilsk Nickel and Rosatom
On Monday, April 25, the metallurgical giant Norilsk Nickel announced about the intention to create a large enterprise with Rosatom for the development of the Kolmozerskoye lithium deposit in the Murmansk region and the deep mining of lithium raw materials.
Kolmozerskoye is the largest (18.9% of domestic reserves) and the most promising Russian lithium ore deposit, currently in the unallocated fund. The joint venture between Norilsk Nickel and Rosatom intends to participate in the trial on the development of the field. The auction is expected this year.
“Global demand for lithium is projected to increase fivefold by 2030. Russia also needs its own lithium raw materials and the creation of an industrial chain from ore mining to the production of batteries,” Sergey Stepanov, senior vice president and production director of Norilsk Nickel, told Forbes. — In this regard, Norilsk Nickel and Rosatom solved a common problem as part of the Kolmozerskoye field development project. To date, an agreement of intent has been signed and preliminary technical documentation for the project has been developed.” Disclosure of details about the timing, volume of investments, and so on “Norilsk Nickel” departure.
Rosatom announced the production of lithium at the Kolmozerskoye birthplace at the beginning of 2021, Vasily Danilov, an analyst at Veles Capital, recalls. Then the first metal turned out only by 2030. “Now Norilsk Nickel, one of the most important mining companies in the world with a wide presence on the Kola Peninsula, has been involved in the development of the Kolmozerskoye deposit,” the expert says. “Using Norilsk Nickel’s large financial and expert resources, the start of industrial lithium profits may begin earlier than the use of the nine-year period.” However, in any case, we are talking about a fairly long period, which is associated only with the proposed development of the largest deposit, but also with construction with zero associated value, processing plants and other facilities produced by Danilov.
“The project of Rosatom and Norilsk Nickel may turn out to be difficult to implement: despite the large reserves of the Kolmozerskoye deposit, its ores matter in composition, so their processing can be extremely costly,” Khazanov believes.
The project involves a subsidiary of Rosatom – “RENERA» is a manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries for use in special equipment, energy and electric vehicles.
In July 2021 reportedthat the Atomredmedzoloto holding, which is part of Rosatom, intends to start mining lithium compounds in the Murmansk and Irkutsk regions, as well as in Latin America by 2030 and invest more than 50 billion rubles in these projects. The estimated volume of production was also called – up to 50,000 tons per year.
Rosatom did not respond to Forbes’ request.
Project of Gazprom and INK
In early February, Gazprom, the Irkutsk Oil Company (INC) and the Ministry of Industry and Trade signed a tripartite action plan (“road map”) for the implementation of a project for the production of lithium compounds from mineralized groundwater of the Kovykta gas condensate field of Gazprom in the Irkutsk region.
Gazprom has carried out a feasibility study of the project, which, according to preliminary forecasts, can cover private demand for lithium in the near future,” Alexey Miller said during the signing of the Gazprom chairmanship meeting. The project, which Gazprom and the Irkutsk Oil Company intends to implement, is largely a full-cycle lithium version with export potential, said Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov. In Russia, Gazprom does not delay the temporary implementation of the project. At the same time, Manturov noted that this project is “an important, substantive step towards solving the tasks set for the Russian industry related to rare and rare earth metals by 2030.”
Gazprom and INK signed memorandum of intent to develop a lithium income project at the Kovykta birthplace in October 2021. At the same time, it was announced that INK has a special technology for processing lithium-containing associated water and is ready to use them for processing formation brines from the Gazprom field.
Gazprom and INK did not respond to a request from Forbes. The Ministry of Industry and Trade excluded data on the project, saying only that work on it continues “within the framework of the road map.”
Dagestan also wants to produce lithium
On the intention to organize the production of lithium carbonate announced and Minister of Industry of Dagestan Nizam Khalilov. He said that there are three large deposits of its lithium in the republic, the largest of them, in Yuzhno-Sukhokumskoye, reportedly can produce 5,000-6,000 tons of lithium compounds per year. “Depending on the fineness reserves, we can talk about both the extraction of lithium in the territory of the republic, and the organization of a full cycle in large-scale production,” Khalilov said.
By speaking Director of the Institute for Problems of Geothermy and Territorial Aviation – A branch of the Joint Institute for High Temperature of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alibek Alkhasov, the institute has studied 92 districts in the North Caucasus with an industrial lithium establishment, 55 from the district in Dagestan over the past 40 years. “Berikeiskoye, Yuzhno-Sukhokumskoye and Tarumovskoye deposits can not only be fully in demand in Russia in lithium carbonate, but also export it to other countries,” Alkhasov said.
The scientist believes that, due to restrictions on the supply of lithium to Russia, the lithium mining project in Dagestan can be implemented. According to rough estimates, this project reaches about a billion rubles of investment. “But the project pays off quickly, and Russia becomes no more rare than this share of consumption,” he said.
Other sources of lithium
From 1941 to 1997 in the Krasnoyarsk Territory He worked in Russia as the only lithium mine on the territory of the Zavitinsky deposit. The concentrate was processed by the Krasnoyarsk chemical and metallurgical plant (KHMZ). In the Soviet years, about 40% of the deposit’s reserves were depleted, and in 1997 it was mothballed.
According to Demidov from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Krasnoyarsk plant is currently filing criminal liability for the extraction of lithium from the man-made dumps of the Zavitinsky deposit. KHMZ and Halmek, a lithium hydroxide producer from the Tula region, also intend to add deposits to the Murmansk region, which Demidov did not name. In essence, if a company receives the right to develop a birthplace in the II-III quarters of the year, then within seven to eight months it will receive production in the pilot production standard.
In addition to KHMK and Halmek, lithium is processed in Russia, which is supplied to Rosatom, the Novosibirsk plant of chemical concentrates. Used lithium batteries are recycled at two facilities: “National Ecological Company“(NEC) in Yaroslavl and”Megapolis resource” in Chelyabinsk.
Projects will not start soon
“You need to understand that so far all these projects are in the stage of intentions,” Alexey Kalachev, an analyst at FG Finam, told Forbes. – Time will pass before the feasibility study (feasibility study) is achieved first of all. Forbes) is observed with extraction and extraction technologies, approve programs, find initial investments and allocate funding. Plus, for sure, there will be a problem of at least obtaining, and as a maximum, the development of technological equipment. That is, in fact, production can begin no earlier than the previous year, and then, if the task arrives, it will be powerfully accelerated at the working level.”
All planned projects for the extraction of lithium origin clearly do not require implementation in a short time, as it requires the development of technologies for its processing, the design and construction of expected mining enterprises, the creation of transport and energy value, the provision of an adequate level of financing, the selection of personnel, Khazanov compliance. “Therefore, without detailed processing of the parameters of their logical operations of organizing work, they all either occur on time or are doomed to failure,” the expert says.