According to the resolution announcement of the 14th (extraordinary) meeting of the 8th Board of Directors of Taineng Chemical (002145.SZ) on August 11, the company approved the proposal for its wholly-owned subsidiary Gansu Oriental Titanium Co., Ltd. To invest in the "600,000 t/y lithium iron phosphate/sodium iron phosphate precursor (iron phosphate) project." Located in Yindong Industrial Park, Baiyin High-tech Zone, Gansu, the project has an estimated total investment of RMB 5.462 billion and will be built in two phases, with Phase I expected to be completed and put into use within 18 months and Phase II subject to future conditions. The announcement also notes that the investment amount is a preliminary estimate with some uncertainty, and the actual investment is subject to actual construction; the investment does not constitute a related-party transaction or major asset restructuring and does not require shareholders meeting approval.
From the project content perspective, the product is iron phosphate precursor, with applications covering two technical routes: lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and sodium iron phosphate (the precursor step for sodium-ion polyanionic/phosphate-route cathodes). Taineng Chemical's existing business covers titanium dioxide and iron phosphate, and its subsidiary Gansu Oriental Titanium has previously deployed iron phosphate and new energy material capacity in Baiyin. On the same day, the company also disclosed plans to increase capital in its controlling subsidiary Zhonghe Phosphating by RMB 260 million and build a 400,000 t/y titanium dioxide and 1.4 million t/y ferrous sulfate heptahydrate project. It should be noted that this announcement is an investment decision; the project is still in the preliminary preparation stage, and the capacity allocation between LFP and sodium iron phosphate precursors has not been disclosed.
However, it should be noted that the project mainly serves LFP, the specific capacity share of sodium iron phosphate precursor has not been disclosed, and the sodium-ion relevance is indirect support at the upstream raw-material level of the industry chain. Meanwhile, the planned RMB 5.462 billion investment is a preliminary board estimate; the actual investment, Phase I commissioning timing and product mix may all be adjusted.