(Yicai Global) Jan. 6 -- Jinyuan EP’s shares jumped by the exchange-imposed limit after the Chinese cement maker that is expanding into the field of electric vehicle battery materials said it will invest CNY800 million (USD125.5 million) to build a lithium carbonate plant in China’s Xizang Autonomous Region.

Jinyuan’s stock price [SHE: 000546] rose 10 percent to CNY15.74 (USD2.47) today, giving it a market cap of CNY12.3 billion (USD1.9 billion). Its shares climbed 80 percent last year.

The plant will be built in two stages, to be completed and put into operation by the end of May and end of November, respectively, the Hangzhou-based company said in a statement late yesterday. The first phase will have an annual capacity of 2,000 tons of lithium carbonate and the second one 6,000 tons to 8,000 tons.

The project will be built by Tibet Ngari Liyuan Mining Development, in which Jinyuan bought a 51 percent stake for CNY510 million (USD80 million) last November. When Liyuan's annual output of lithium carbonate or lithium phosphate exceeds 8,000 tons, Jinyuan will acquire the rest of the Liyuan Mining.

Liyuan Mining has the right to develop Baqiancuo Salt Lake in remote Ngari prefecture, which has about 160,000 tons of lithium chloride resources and other materials.

Once operational, the plant will bring about CNY1.2 billion (USD188.3 million) in revenue to Liyuan and CNY100 million in taxes to the local government every year, Jinyuan said.

Editor: Futura Costaglione