China’s massive industrial base has been wrestling with sporadic jumps in power prices and usage curbs since March.

In the fourth round of metal auctions this year, the administration will sell off 30,000 tonnes of copper, 50,000 tonnes of zinc and 70,000 tonnes of aluminum.

Residents in several northern provinces have already been dealing with blackouts, while traffic lights are being turned off.

China is in the grip of a power crunch as a shortage of coal supplies, toughening emissions standards and strong demand from manufacturers and industry have pushed coal prices to record highs.

With increasing interest in electric vehicles from consumers, the market for lithium-ion EV batteries is now a $27 billion per year business.

Total nickel reserves are estimated at 94 million tonnes globally, with Indonesia and Australia among the countries holding the largest endowments.

Beijing has been restructuring the industry for years into six large state-controlled groups.

The partners will build a plant to make lithium chemicals in Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park on the island of Sulawesi.