(Yicai) April 21 -- Tianqi Lithium's shares rose after China's largest lithium miner said net profit likely soared by as much as 43 times in the first quarter of this year, thanks to growing investment income, surging lithium product prices, and the overall development of the new energy industry.

Tianqi Lithium [SHE: 002466] jumped 5.5 percent to CNY70.47 (USD10.34) a share as of 1.05 p.m. in Shenzhen today. Its Hong Kong-traded stock [HKG: 9696] climbed 2.3 percent to HKD59.60 (USD7.61).

Net profit is expected to have jumped 35 times to 43 times to between CNY1.7 billion and CNY2 billion (USD249.3 million and USD293.4 million) in the three months ended March 31, the Chengdu-based company announced yesterday.

Tianqi Lithium predicted a significant increase in investment income from its key associate Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile based on Bloomberg News' earnings per share forecasts for the South American chemicals giant that partly owns the development rights to the Atacama Salt Flat, one of the world's largest lithium salt mines, despite SQM not releasing its first-quarter financial report yet.

In addition, lithium product prices have soared since the beginning of this year. For example, the price of battery-grade lithium carbonate peaked at over CNY170,000 (USD24,935) per ton from around CY119,000 per ton in early January, remaining at around CNY150,000 last month.

Chengxin Lithium Group previously said that the average price of battery-grade lithium carbonate was CNY75,500 (USD11,075) per ton last year, with prices having declined in the first half before rebounding toward the end of the year.

Established in 1995, Tianqi Lithium is a new energy materials company focused on lithium. Its main businesses cover key stages of the lithium supply chain, including the development of hard-rock lithium resources, production and sales of lithium concentrate, and the production and sales of lithium chemical products.

Editor: Martin Kadiev