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CATL’s Jianxiawo lithium mine put back on hold after approval revoked
Benchmark Mineral Intelligence cut its 2026 output forecast for the mine to 32,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent from 62,500 tonnes due to renewed environmental delays.
CATL’s Jianxiawo lithium mine, China’s largest by capacity, has been returned to care and maintenance after regulators revoked its environmental approval, delaying a sustained restart and tightening expected domestic supply, Mining.com reports.
Benchmark Mineral Intelligence lowered its 2026 mined output forecast for Jianxiawo to 32,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent, down from a prior estimate of 62,500 tonnes, while keeping its 2027 forecast at about 99,000 tonnes. The problem follows an informal July restart that bypassed an unresolved dispute over the mine’s tailings pond, drawing complaints and triggering more than 70 formal reports that pushed the operator back into the environmental impact assessment process.
Jianxiawo’s nameplate capacity is approaching 150,000 tonnes of LCE a year, and completing the environmental review could take until the fourth quarter, or run into 2027, leaving the timetable for a meaningful ramp uncertain. The mine’s difficulties began after its mining licence expired in August 2025 as China tightened mineral classification rules for lithium-bearing clay.
The disruption arrives as lithium demand is increasingly shaped by stationary battery storage and improving electric vehicle sales, after the market was battered by oversupply following the 2022 price boom. Mining.com also notes that Albemarle described stationary-storage demand as “off the charts” during an August earnings call, while lithium carbonate futures on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange have been gaining trading volumes and open interest as a hedging and pricing tool.