As a global leader in lithium resources, every move by Tianqi Lithium Corporation (09696) is closely watched by the market. Two significant recent events have revealed its latest strategic intentions regarding resource deployment. On January 28, Tianqi Lithium announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Tianqi Chile, lost the final trial in the Supreme Court of Chile. This implies that Tianqi Lithium's governance voice and the certainty of future returns from SQM, a core company, may diminish. Although Tianqi Lithium stated in the announcement that this loss does not have a major direct impact on its current profits, the market widely believes that, in the long run, the investment return potential and resource influence of Tianqi Lithium in the world's largest salt lake brine deposit – the Atacama Salt Lake – are facing substantial challenges.
Remarkably, on the very same day this unfavorable verdict was announced, Tianqi Lithium swiftly initiated another critical move – formally signing a "Strategic Framework Cooperation Agreement" with ENVISION GREEN (01783), a leading player in the global circular economy industry. It was observed that ENVISION GREEN issued a voluntary announcement on January 30, stating that it had reached a strategic cooperation with Tianqi Lithium's wholly-owned subsidiary, Tianqi Grand Vision Energy Limited ("Tianqi Grand"), on January 28. The two parties will jointly build a green recycling industrial chain for lithium batteries, promoting industrial closed loops and efficient resource recovery. The closely connected timeline of these two events clearly indicates the urgency for Tianqi Lithium to extend its layout into the downstream recycling segment. Furthermore, judging by the details of the cooperation agreement, this is not a simple business collaboration but involves deep synergy across multiple dimensions.
According to the agreement, Tianqi Grand and ENVISION GREEN will collaborate in several areas, including core R&D, overseas expansion, black mass materials, and equity investment. In terms of core R&D, the two sides will establish joint laboratories or projects for deep integration, jointly apply for Hong Kong and international research funding, and collaborate on R&D for technologies and capabilities including lithium-ion battery recycling and the refining and recovery of high-value materials like black mass, aiming to overcome key challenges in the full-process recycling technology. Regarding overseas expansion, starting from Hong Kong, they will jointly expand overseas battery recycling businesses and gradually extend to other regional hubs based on cooperation progress. For black mass materials, ENVISION GREEN will supply Tianqi Grand with qualified battery black mass. Pertaining to equity investment, after completing an investment feasibility study, the parties plan to establish a capital partnership through cross-shareholdings.
Evidently, this strategic cooperation between Tianqi Lithium and ENVISION GREEN spans multiple business dimensions such as technology, market, and product. Moreover, above the business cooperation lies a plan for cross-equity investment, signaling that their relationship transcends typical strategic collaboration and is advancing towards a new stage of deep integration. The long-term goal is to achieve tighter synergy of interests and risks. This represents not just a capital-level combination but a high degree of alignment in strategic vision and industrial logic for both parties. The core idea is an attempt to deeply integrate upstream resource reserve advantages with downstream circular operation systems, allowing the capital link to directly serve the goal of打通并掌控 (mastering and controlling) the full lifecycle value of lithium, a critical metal.
For Tianqi Lithium, as the company faces uncertainties regarding control over key overseas resources (like the Atacama Salt Lake in Chile) and mandatory requirements from regulations such as the EU's New Battery Regulation concerning battery carbon footprints and recycled material ratios, enhancing supply chain resilience by investing in the recycling sector has become imperative. Furthermore, with the global wave of power battery retirements approaching its peak, deploying in "urban mining" now to create a dual-security system of "primary mining + urban mining" has become a key strategic choice for Tianqi Lithium to address challenges and capture future growth.
Undoubtedly, venturing into the circular business is crucial for building Tianqi Lithium's long-term competitive advantage. Its choice to partner with ENVISION GREEN is based both on the latter's established strength and reputation in the global circular economy sector, and on high recognition of its resource integration and localized operation capabilities demonstrated by its global battery cell circular service system spanning Asia, America, and Europe. Public information shows that ENVISION GREEN has already built a global recycling network covering 28 countries, including 3 pre-processing plants and 74 collection and dismantling points. This network includes one pre-processing center each in Europe, North America, and Asia, corresponding to 42, 27, and 5 dismantling points respectively. This efficient and comprehensive international network system makes ENVISION GREEN the preferred service provider for new energy companies expanding overseas to establish recycling channels.
More critically, ENVISION GREEN's Hong Kong-centric layout further enhances its strategic value. Hong Kong, as a key node connecting the Greater Bay Area with global resources, serves as an important bridgehead for building a strategic recycled resource supply chain. ENVISION GREEN's first government-supported power battery processing facility in Hong Kong is set to commence operations in 2026. This facility will become the core hub for ENVISION GREEN's regional synergy and global strategy, expected to play a key role in the global battery circular ecosystem. This means ENVISION GREEN can provide Tianqi Lithium with complete international infrastructure; Tianqi Lithium can directly plug into ENVISION GREEN's mature global recycling network, thereby rapidly establishing a green battery material recycling channel with Hong Kong as a hub, radiating to Asia-Pacific and beyond. This marks the substantive implementation of Tianqi Lithium's integrated "resource-recycling-regeneration" closed loop.
However, it is noteworthy that the cooperation between Tianqi Lithium and ENVISION GREEN in the recycling sector is unlikely to be an isolated case. Driven by the dual forces of supply chain security and new global green trade rules, investing in battery recycling has become a critical step for the internationalization of new energy enterprises; this is an inevitable industry trend. Consequently, it is anticipated that more upstream lithium resource companies will seek cooperation with ENVISION GREEN in the future. With its first-mover advantage, Tianqi Lithium has already seized a strategic initiative. Its intention to deepen the partnership through deep cooperation models like cross-investment will undoubtedly provide greater certainty in its journey to build a long-term competitive advantage.
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