Development plan of the project. According to the development and utilisation plan in 2016, the project planned to use water pumps to extract brine at the site of the Lakkor Tso Salt Lake, and to build a salt pan on the east bank of the salt lake. The brine would be transported to the salt pan through pipes to obtain concentrated lithium brine after solar evaporation. The brine would then be transported to Golmud by vehicles. Lithium carbonate (and potassium fertiliser) would be produced in the Golmud Zangqing Industrial Park with a scale of 10,000 tonnes per year. After on-site investigations, technical and experimental studies, external technical experts and the Company’s technical team came to the view that the construction scale of the project has significant room for expansion. There is also a possibility of major adjustments to the mining process and technology. A more environmentally friendly and economical hybrid process combining “adsorption method + membrane process” can be adopted, i.e., the brine extracted from the salt lake will directly return to the lake area after adsorbing lithium ions. The lithium-containing eluate will go through a series of process including saturation and impurity removal (removing calcium, magnesium and boron) to produce and prepare for lithium products. This process is mature, with low implementation difficulties and a short construction period. If the hybrid process combining “adsorption method + membrane process” is adopted, the planned output of Phase 1 of the project will be adjusted to 20,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate per year, and the output is planned to raise to 50,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate per year after Phase 2 has completed construction and commenced production. It is expected that the project has better economic efficiency than the original plan. After the completion of the acquisition, the Company will decide the specific development plan according to salt lake development policies in Tibet. The Company may also implement the approved plan first, while beginning feasibility study, approval and construction of the new plan. In general, the future construction plan will be determined according to the principle of being beneficial to environmental protection, full utilisation of resources, and maximisation of economic and social benefits.
