Standards Development

Scope

Scope statement of the proposed new committee (The scope shall precisely define the limits of the field of activity. Scopes shall not repeat general aims and principles governing the work of the organization but shall indicate the specific area concerned).

Standardization in the field of lithium mining, concentration, extraction, separation and conversion to useful lithium compounds/materials (including oxides, salts, metals, master alloys, lithium-ion battery materials, etc.) The work program includes terminology, technical conditions of delivery to overcome transport difficulties, unified testing and analysis methods to improve the general quality of lithium products.

Excluded: Battery

Note: Battery is a component and not a material, which can be directly used in electric vehicles, digital cameras, electric motorcycles, etc.

Purpose

Purpose and justification for the proposal. (The purpose and justification for the creation of a new technical committee shall be made clear and the need for standardization in this fieldshall be justified. Clause C.4.13.3 of Annex C of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 contains a menu of suggestions or ideas for possible documentation to support and purpose and justification of proposals. Proposers should consider these suggestions, but they are not limited to them, nor are they required to comply strictly with them. What is most important is that proposers develop and provide purpose and justification information that is most relevant to their proposals and that makes a substantial business case for the market relevance and the need for their proposals. Thorough, well-developed and robust purpose and justification documentation will lead to more informed consideration of proposals and ultimately their possible success in the ISO IEC system.)

Lithium is the lightest alkali metal element and has been widely used in the traditional industrial fields such as glass, ceramics, petrochemical, metallurgy, textile, synthetic rubber, lubricating materials and medical treatment. In recent years, application of lithium in the field of battery energy, aerospace and nuclear is growing rapidly. Lithium has become a very important industrial product of metal, which is well known as the "21st century energy metal".

More and more countries have been aware of the importance of lithium in their supply chains. Some of them, such as USA, Australia, Canada, etc. increased on lithium production in recent years. World lithium supply pattern is now being diversified.

Global lithium resources are mainly distributed in salt lakes and various ores. The salt-lake brine resources are mainly concentrated in the lithium triangle of South America (Chile, Argentina and Bolivia). The hard rock lithium resources are mainly concentrated in Australia, Canada and Africa, Congo, Zimbabwe and other countries.

China, South Korea and Japan are major consumers of lithium product. International trade of lithium product is becoming more frequent.

Spodumene concentrate production capacity exceeds 2000kt in Australia. Lithium production exceeds 100kt LCE in Chile, Argentina and other South American countries. Lithium production is about 167kt LCE in China.

In summary the purpose for the proposal is to start development of international standards on lithium materially, to promote production, fair trade and sustainable procurement of lithium globally