In Jinchang, the eastern end of the Hexi Corridor in Gansu province, lies the third largest nickel copper sulfide deposit in the world; to the side of the mine is Jinchuan Group, China's largest and the world's leading nickel and cobalt production base and platinum group metal refining center.
Walking into the Science and Technology Hall of Jinchuan, a huge periodic table of elements comes into sight, with nickel, cobalt, copper, platinum and another 18 elements highlighted. These elements are the main ones that Jinchuan can extract at present, and are also the indispensable elements for the development of heavy industry, the national defense industry, new energy batteries and other emerging industries.
Turning the chemical elements contained in ores into metal products has been the mission of generations of Jinchuan's employees, and deriving more new materials from metal products has been a major task for Jinchuan in the new era. What has remained unchanged over the decades is the pursuit for innovation.
Since 2013, Jinchuan Group has adhered to the innovation-driven development strategy, giving priority to scientific and technological innovation, cultivating talents with innovative ability, and constantly improving its competitiveness. Based on the efforts Jinchuan has made, the company has grown to become a top 500 material producing enterprise in the world.
Wang Yongqian, Party secretary of the CPC Jinchuan Group committee and chairman of Jinchuan Group, highlighted that Jinchuan will focus on the needs of Gansu province and the nation, implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress and make its contributions toward domestic development.
The third largest nickel copper sulfide deposit in the world – Jinchuan's mining area [Photo by Zhang Juncheng]
Substitution of imported metal products comes true
To Yang Xiaoyan, director of the R&D Center of Lanzhou Jinchuan Science Park Co., Ltd., scientific and technological innovation brings a sense of accomplishment, but it is not easy.
"To master cutting-edge technologies, we have to learn the demands of the market. Each year, we face new technological difficulties. Following the rapid development of technology, we have insisted on the idea of producing one generation of products by developing and reserving a generation of products at the same time," said Yang.
Ultra-high purity metal materials, such as high-purity nickel and high-purity cobalt, are key raw materials for manufacturing semiconductors. Over the past ten years, Yang's work has been to realize the localization of high-purity copper, nickel and cobalt.
Since 2013, the purity of high-purity copper of Jinchuan Group has increased from 5N (99.999%) to 7N (99.9999%), and the purity of high-purity nickel and high-purity cobalt has increased from 4N to 99.9995%. The output has also increased by 20 times compared with that of ten years ago. At present, Jinchuan Group's market share of high-purity copper is now 20%, and the market share of high-purity nickel and high-purity cobalt has increased from less than 10% in 2013 to 40%.
Through Yang and her team’s efforts, Jinchuan Group has formed 12 proprietary technologies for high-purity copper, nickel and cobalt, obtained 11 authorized patents, and completed the preparation and revision of four national and industrial standards. According to the evaluation of the China Nonferrous Metal Industry Association, Jinchuan Group's high-purity copper, nickel and cobalt preparation technology has reached "international leading" level.
Realizing the substitution of imported metal products relies on Jinchuan's clear development path, the company's perseverance with innovation and the exploration of Jinchuan's mechanism reform. Over the past decade, through promoting the transformation of nickel and cobalt to new energy battery materials, a complete industrial chain of "cobalt resource development - cobalt smelting - cobalt salt - ternary precursor - cathode material" has been formed, with the output value of nonferrous metal new materials industry accounting for 43%; over 500 key technological research projects have been implemented, and the conversion rate of technological achievements surpassed 65%; 3,274 authorized patents, including 371 invention patents have been obtained; its 18 subsidiaries have been identified as high-tech enterprises, and the company was among the first batch of national intellectual property demonstration sites; the revenue of Lanzhou Jinchuan Precious Metal Co., Ltd. increased from 15 million yuan (about $2 million) at the beginning of its establishment to 1.3 billion yuan in 2021.
In 2021, the output of nickel and cobalt of Jinchuan Group ranked third and fourth in the world, the output of copper ranked fourth in China, and the output of mineral platinum group metals ranked first in Asia. Despite having achieved such outstanding accomplishments, Jinchuan did not stop its innovation.
As China's manufacturing industry continued to move toward high-end fields, the requirements for nickel, cobalt, precious metals and other materials became higher, and only carbonyl products with unique advantages, such as high purity and fine particle size, could meet the market demand. However, only a few enterprises in the world were involved in this production field.
After more than 10 years of continuous research, Jinchuan Group has independently overcome a series of core technologies and engineering problems in the carbonyl metallurgy process, and built two production lines with an annual output of 10,000 tons of carbonyl nickel and 5,000 tons of carbonyl iron. They are the most automated carbonyl metallurgy production lines in China, with the most stable product quality control, the largest scale and the most advanced equipment. Jinchuan has become the only industrialized company in the world to simultaneously have carbonyl nickel and carbonyl iron production lines, with its capacity scale ranking second in the world.
The aerial view of the second branch area of Jinchuan Group [Photo by Zhang Juncheng]
