CATL earmarks $4.4B for critical minerals mining arm

CATL to cut lithium production at key mine

CATL’s headquarters in Ningde, in China’s Fujian Province. (Image courtesy of CATL.)

Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL) has earmarked $4.4 billion to expand its critical minerals mining business amid a global energy shock that raised fears over its supply of battery raw materials.

On Wednesday, the Chinese EV battery maker — one of the world’s largest — said it will create a new subsidiary to act as an investment and operations platform for the new energy mining sector. Its business scope would include mineral resources exploration, metals processing and sales of chemical products, it added.

The investment arm, with a registered capital of 30 billion yuan (approximately $4.4 billion), will “integrate existing mining assets, pursue high-quality mineral projects at home and abroad, and safeguard supply of raw materials for the company’s core business,” its securities filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange reads.

The move comes at a time when battery manufacturers are grappling with rising costs and supply uncertainty for their raw materials such as lithium, whose price has risen more than 140% over the past year. Other metals like nickel and cobalt have also seen their prices surge in recent months due to measures taken by their respective leading suppliers (Indonesia and Congo).

CATL already owns a major lithium mine in Jiangxi province, but that has been mothballed since August due to permit issues. The company said it has since gradually increased exposure to upstream materials including lithium, nickel and phosphorus.

CATL’s plans to establish an upstream mining business could also accelerate its entry into the automotive and energy storage system (ESS) markets, analysts said. “The slumbering EV market in China will not stop CATL from improving its earnings as ESS becomes a new growth driver,” Zhou Ling, a hedge fund manager at Shanghai Shiva Investment, told the South China Morning Post.

Last week, Bloomberg reported that the company has tapped Chen Jinghe — founder and ex-chairman of Zijin Mining Group — as an advisor for its growing mining business. Chen, who stepped down last year, helped to transform Zijin from a small gold operation in China to one of the world’s largest miners.

Also on Wednesday, CATL released its results for the January-March quarter, highlighted by a 49% year-on-year jump in net income in the first quarter to 20.7 billion yuan, beating analysts’ estimates. In 2025, the Ningde, Fujian-based company posted a net profit of 72.2 billion yuan, up 42% from a year earlier.