Qinghai Eyes Salt Lake Chemical, Other Five Industries for 2015 Development      

Qinghai province aims to set up six industrial clusters ranging from salt lake chemical, energy chemical, nonferrous metals refining and processing, equipment manufacturing, electronic information material and solar energy industry, to special biological resource processing, according to a guidance document for the province's development issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on May 31st.
   Qinghai should boost its industrial added value by two times by 2015 from RMB32.4 billion in 2007, the ministry said. Led by the salt lake chemical business, Qinghai will be built into one of the nation's key demonstration recycle economy zones and a large scale industrial base for potassium, sodium, magnesium, lithium, boron and other natural gas chemical products around the Qaidam Basin area.
   The ministry said it will support Qinghai's efforts to push forward its salt lake resource utilization business, and expand the industrial chain and scale, making Qinghai province the country's largest base for salt lake chemicals and potash fertilizers, as well as a major chlor-alkali chemical base in the west region. Qinghai should make full use of its advantages of rich resources to integrate the natural gas chemical business and the salt-based chemical business, and develop such downstream products as polypropylene and PVC, as well as build regional oil, gas and chemical bases. Qinghai should also focus on clean coal technology, developing a coal gasification-based polygeneration industrial chain. Qinghai is also told to use its boron resources to develop the boric acid and other boron-based fine chemicals business.
   The ministry will mostly support Qinghai in the development of its salt lake magnesium resources, with an aim to build the province into the nation's key research and development and manufacturing bases for magnesium and magnesium downstream products, the document said. Qinghai should also develop certain special mineral sources like lithium carbonate, lithium cobaltate and lithium manganate - all based on lithium.
   The guidance document also stated that Qinghai needs to upgrade its silicon industry and spend more in the research and development of photovoltaic power generation equipment, so that it could become a national level base for solar energy industry. Qinghai also should accelerate the wind power sector, with a plan to build a batch of windmill farms. The province is also encouraged to develop its new energy business in fields such as lithium ion cell for motor and mobile telecommunication use as well as battery storage technology. Another key development area for Qinghai is advanced materials, such as materials used in lithium battery, polyphenylene sulfide, aluminum-lithium alloy and magnesium based alloy, which would help support the development of the semiconductor and new type component business.