The strategy to strengthen a provincial capital is fundamentally about strengthening its industries.
Jinchuan Group, a backbone enterprise in the province's non-ferrous metals sector, consistently aligns its actions with national priorities and provincial imperatives. Proactively implementing the provincial government's directives to bolster the capital, the company has continuously optimized its industrial footprint in Lanzhou. It is deepening its focus on key areas such as resource development, technological R&D, and new energy materials, injecting robust momentum into the province's high-quality economic development through tangible industrial empowerment.
How can state-owned enterprises contribute to building a stronger capital? Jinchuan Group provides a compelling answer through precise industrial planning. From a 10,000-ton high-end nickel-based alloy production line and a large-scale precious metals deep-processing base in the northwest, to a 200,000-ton lithium iron phosphate project and a comprehensive circular economy industrial chain, the company has established its core competitive industries—new energy, new materials, and deep processing of rare precious metals—in Lanzhou. This demonstrates its role as a main force in the capital's development with solid industrial strength.
The key to fortifying the capital's industrial foundation lies in addressing weaknesses in the industrial chain and overcoming key technological bottlenecks.
Recently, Jinchuan Group deepened its strategic partnership with Lanzhou LS Group to jointly construct a 10,000-ton advanced nickel-based alloy material production line for high-end equipment. This collaboration aims to tackle the challenge of domestic production for high-end materials.
For a long time, China has heavily relied on imports for high-end nickel-based alloys, a critical bottleneck hindering the development of the country's high-end equipment manufacturing sector. The partnership between these two leading provincial SOEs represents a breakthrough in domestic production for high-end specialty materials and a crucial strategic move for Jinchuan Group's deeper integration into Lanzhou's urban and industrial development.
The project leverages Jinchuan Group's leading nickel resource reserves and core smelting technology, combined with Lanzhou LS Group's advantages in large, heavy-duty equipment like its 125 MN fast forging hydraulic press. It focuses on producing high-end products such as high-temperature corrosion-resistant alloys, pure nickel, and Monel alloys, which are in high demand in sectors like aerospace, petrochemicals, electronics, and power generation. Adopting a "light-asset, high-quality, low-cost" operational model, both parties are efficiently advancing the project to achieve rapid construction, commissioning, and results, aiming to significantly enhance the market competitiveness and industry influence of domestically produced nickel-based alloys.
Upon completion, the project will fully integrate the entire chain from "nickel ore – smelting – deep processing – high-end equipment," effectively breaking the dependence on imported high-end materials. It is reported that the two companies initiated multiple rounds of discussions in 2024, swiftly finalized a joint venture agreement, and commenced project construction early last year. This efficient and pragmatic pace aligns perfectly with the accelerated and quality-focused requirements of the capital-strengthening initiative.
If nickel-based alloys fortify the industrial backbone of high-end equipment manufacturing, then the deep processing of precious metals is Jinchuan Group's core lever for ascending to the high end of the industrial chain and the peak of the value chain.
In the Lanzhou New Area, Jinchuan Group's gold and silver deep processing project has commenced full-scale construction. The project focuses on high-end precious metal products like high-purity gold and silver, integrating the entire process from raw material recycling and technological R&D to deep processing and market sales. It aims to establish the largest and most technologically advanced comprehensive precious metals processing industrial base in Northwest China.
Previously, Jinchuan Group's precious metal products were primarily sold as bulk raw materials, resulting in low value addition and a crude pricing model. Now, through deep processing upgrades, the company successfully produces high-end products such as premium gold and silver jewelry, investment gold bars, and high-purity precious metal compounds. This has achieved a leap in product pricing from the "kilogram level" to the "gram and milligram level." This shift in the unit of measurement is not merely an update in product form but a vivid example of a traditional resource-based enterprise transforming into a high-value-added, precision industry.
The implementation of this project fills the gap in Lanzhou's precious metals deep processing industrial chain, accelerating the capital's transformation from a simple exporter of mineral raw materials into an industrial hub for the R&D, production, and distribution of high-end precious metal products. Relying on this project, Jinchuan Group can further streamline its internal resource circulation channels, achieve iterative technological upgrades in its production lines, and bring its vision of creating a "first-class in the Northwest, renowned in the industry" precious metals brand into sharper focus.
What truly propels Lanzhou to form an "industrial agglomeration magnet" is Jinchuan Group's decisive move in the new energy materials sector.
In the Lanzhou New Area, the first-phase production line of Jinchuan Group's 200,000-ton annual lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cathode material project has been fully connected. The intelligent production workshops are operating at full capacity with stable output, continuously releasing production potential.
With years of experience in the battery materials field, Jinchuan Group's technical team has overcome challenges related to element ratios, crystallization control, and batch consistency. Its independently developed cathode material process formulation system has successfully entered the supply chains of leading domestic power battery manufacturers.
The project's commissioning has given Lanzhou large-scale production capacity in the mainstream LFP power battery material segment, further solidifying the foundation for the province's new energy industry development.
While expanding high-quality capacity, Jinchuan Group has simultaneously upgraded its recycling production line for spent lithium-ion batteries. This has established a closed-loop new energy industrial chain encompassing "mineral smelting – precursor manufacturing – cathode material production – spent battery recycling," shaping a green, low-carbon, circular, and sustainable modern industrial development model.
"Our products have reached industry-leading levels in core indicators such as energy density and cycle life. Since the first phase commenced production, we have successfully secured bulk orders from several leading companies in the industry," said Kang Weiwei, Production Department Manager of Gansu Jinlin Lithium Battery New Material Co., Ltd. This project not only addresses the company's shortfall in high-end LFP production capacity and perfects its vertically integrated new energy materials industrial chain but also transforms Lanzhou from a transit point for the new energy industry into a vital hub for new energy resource aggregation and industrial incubation within the province.
Behind the improvement in production capacity and efficiency lies the continuous reinforcement of scientific research and innovation. Currently, Jinchuan Group is implementing dozens of R&D projects in Lanzhou, focusing on five core areas: battery materials, precious metals, high-purity metals, functional powder materials, and hydrogen energy materials. Long-term technological accumulation is transforming production capacity advantages into powerful industrial agglomeration advantages, attracting upstream and downstream supporting enterprises to gather in Lanzhou and continuously amplifying the capital's industrial magnetism.
The establishment of key projects and the formation of robust industrial chains bring not only incremental output value and investment but also cultivate entirely new, self-iterating, and virtuous-cycle developmental advantages for the province's critical strategic materials industries.