Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. has secured a work safety production permit for its flagship Jianxiawo lithium mine, removing the final major regulatory barrier to resuming output almost a year after operations were suspended.
The permit was issued on June 29 and valid through Feb. 27, 2028, according to a public filing on Credit China, China’s state-run corporate compliance and credit information platform.
Located in Yichun, eastern China’s Jiangxi province, the mine was shut down in August 2025 when its prior mining license expired. The 10-month halt rippled through global lithium markets, triggering a temporary spike in lithium futures and mining equities on fears of tightening supply. CATL was forced to source lithium ore from external suppliers to sustain its battery manufacturing following the closure, Reuters reported at the time.
Jianxiawo is a material asset in China’s domestic lithium supply chain. It has an annual production capacity of roughly 46,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent, equal to about 3% of total global output in 2025, Australian government data show. Before the shutdown, the mine produced 7,000 to 8,000 tons of lithium carbonate per month — roughly 10% of China’s monthly domestic demand. Its total contained lithium resource stands at approximately 6.57 million tons LCE.
Lithium prices have staged a sharp rebound over the mine’s downtime, breaking above 200,000 yuan per ton in May 2026 and hitting a year-to-date peak of 205,000 yuan. Even so, upstream producers remain cautious on expansion. Most Chinese lithium miners with growth plans have pushed final investment decisions back to late 2026 or 2027, as the industry typically requires six to 12 months of sustained price stability before committing to large-scale capital spending.
Global lithium markets are on track for a tightly balanced 2026. CITIC Futures projects worldwide supply will climb 23% to 2.106 million tons LCE this year, while demand rises 30% to 2.099 million tons — leaving a modest surplus of just 7,000 tons under its base-case scenario.
Inventory trends underscore the tight fundamental backdrop. Data from Shanghai Ganglian show social stockpiles of lithium carbonate fell 1,184 tons week-on-week to 96,600 tons in the week ended June 18, extending a steady drawdown that runs counter to recent price pullbacks driven by restart speculation.
Analysts note the Jianxiawo restart will add marginal supply in the near term and could weigh on lithium prices. But the medium-term impact will hinge on the speed of the mine’s production ramp-up and the trajectory of downstream battery demand, against a broader landscape of cautious upstream expansion and broadly balanced global fundamentals.
