Desire to accelerate the mining of "urban mines" industry dividends through cross-shareholding strategic investment in ENVISION GREEN (01783), Tianqi Lithium Corporation (09696).

As a leading global lithium resource company, Tianqi Lithium Corporation (09696) is closely watched by the market with every move, and recently, two major events have indicated its latest strategic intent in resource allocation. On January 28th, Tianqi Lithium Corporation announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Tianqi Chile, lost in the final ruling of the Chilean Supreme Court. This means that Tianqi Lithium Corporation's governance over SQM, a core company, and the certainty of future profits may decline. Although Tianqi Lithium Corporation stated in the announcement that this loss would not have a significant direct impact on the company's current profits, the market generally believes that in the long run, the investment return potential and resource influence of Tianqi Lithium Corporation in the world's largest lithium salt lake, the Atacama salt lake, are facing substantial challenges. And on the same day that the announcement of the loss was made, Tianqi Lithium Corporation quickly initiated another key layout the signing of a "Strategic Framework Cooperation Agreement" with ENVISION GREEN (01783), a leading player in the global circular economy industry. ENVISION GREEN voluntarily announced on January 30th that it had reached a strategic cooperation agreement with Tianqi Lithium Corporation's wholly-owned subsidiary, Tianqi Grand Vision Energy Limited (hereinafter referred to as "Tianqi Grand"), on January 28th. The two parties will jointly build a green lithium battery recycling industrial chain, promote industrial closed-loop and efficient resource recycling. Observing the closely linked timeline of these two events, it is not difficult to see the urgency for Tianqi Lithium Corporation to extend its layout to downstream recycling sectors. From the details of the cooperation agreement, it is clear that this is not just a simple business cooperation, but a deep cooperation that covers multiple dimensions. According to the agreement, Tianqi Grand and ENVISION GREEN will collaborate in several areas including core research and development, overseas expansion, black powder materials, equity investments, etc. In terms of core research and development, the two parties will establish joint laboratories or projects for in-depth binding, jointly apply for research funding in Hong Kong and internationally, collaborate on the research and development of technologies and capabilities for lithium-ion battery recycling, black powders, and other high-value materials refining and recovery, aiming to break through key challenges in the entire recycling technology process. In terms of overseas expansion, the two parties will start with Hong Kong and jointly expand overseas battery recycling business, gradually expanding to other regional centers based on the progress of cooperation. In terms of black powder materials, ENVISION GREEN will provide qualified battery black powder materials to Tianqi Grand. And in terms of equity investments, after completing feasibility studies, the two parties plan to establish a capital cooperation relationship through cross-equity investments. Clearly, the strategic cooperation between Tianqi Lithium Corporation and ENVISION GREEN has encompassed multiple dimensions such as technology, market, and products, and beyond business cooperation, there are plans for cross-equity investments. This signifies that their relationship has surpassed the usual sense of strategic cooperation and is moving towards a new stage of deep integration, aiming at achieving closer synergy between benefits and risks in the long run. This is not only a combination at the capital level but also a highly compatible strategic vision and industrial logic between the two parties. The core of it lies in the attempt by both parties to deeply integrate their advantages in upstream resource reserves with downstream recycling operations systems, allowing the capital link to directly serve the full lifecycle value of lithium, a key metal. For Tianqi Lithium Corporation, as the company faces uncertainty in controlling overseas core resources (such as the Atacama salt lake in Chile) and mandatory requirements for battery carbon footprint and recycled materials ratios under the EU's "New Battery Regulation", enhancing supply chain resilience by laying out in the recycling sector has become a necessity. With the global peak in retirement of power batteries approaching, the layout of "urban mines" at this time, creating a dual security system of "primary mine + urban mine", has become a crucial strategic choice for Tianqi Lithium Corporation to respond to challenges and seize future growth opportunities. Undoubtedly, laying out in the circular business is crucial for Tianqi Lithium Corporation to build long-term competitive advantages, and its choice to partner with ENVISION GREEN is based on the latter's strength and reputation in the global circular economy field, as well as the high recognition of its resource integration and localized operational capabilities exhibited through its global battery recycling service system spanning Asia, America, and Europe. Public information shows that ENVISION GREEN has currently established a global recycling network covering 28 countries, including 3 pre-processing plants and 74 collection and disassembly points. Among them, there is one pre-processing center in Europe, North America, and Asia, corresponding to 42, 27, and 5 disassembly points respectively. This efficient and comprehensive international network system makes ENVISION GREEN the preferred service provider for new energy companies to expand their recycling channels internationally. More importantly, ENVISION GREEN's layout centered on Hong Kong further strengthens its strategic value. Hong Kong, as a key node connecting the Greater Bay Area and global resources, is an important gateway to building a strategic renewable resource supply chain. ENVISION GREEN's first power battery treatment facility in Hong Kong, which will be officially put into operation in 2026 with government support, will become the core hub of ENVISION GREEN's regional coordination and globalization strategy, expected to play a crucial role in the global battery recycling ecosystem. This means that ENVISION GREEN can provide Tianqi Lithium Corporation with a complete international infrastructure, allowing Tianqi Lithium Corporation to directly access ENVISION GREEN's mature global recycling network, quickly establishing a green battery material recycling channel radiating the Asia-Pacific region and globally with Hong Kong as the hub. This signifies the substantial realization of Tianqi Lithium Corporation's "resource-recycling-regeneration" integrated closed-loop process. It is worth noting that the cooperation between Tianqi Lithium Corporation and ENVISION GREEN in the recycling field is not an isolated case. Driven by both supply chain security and new global green trade regulations, laying out in battery recycling has become a key element in the internationalization of new energy companies, an inevitable trend in industry development. Therefore, it is expected that more upstream lithium resource companies will seek cooperation with ENVISION GREEN in the future. With a first-mover advantage, Tianqi Lithium Corporation has seized a strategic initiative and with deep cooperation models such as cross investments, it will deepen its cooperation with ENVISION GREEN, making its process of building long-term competitive advantages more certain.