HollySys' XMagital® Intelligent System Empowers the World's Highest-Altitude Lithium Facility

Recently, HollySys has commissioned a New Energy Mining Manufacturing Execution Platform for Zijin Mining Group 20 KTA Lithium Salts Production Project in Tibet using its XMagital® Intelligent System.

Project Background

The project is located at the Laguo Co Salt Lake in Mami Township, Gaize County, Tibet, at elevations ranging from 4,467 to 4,800 meters, making it one of the world's highest-altitude salt lake lithium extraction facilities. As one of China's leading lithium resource bases, Phase I represents a total investment of approximately USD 708 million and is designed to produce 20 KTA of lithium salts. The project adopts an advanced extraction process integrating brine mining, adsorption, and membrane-coupled lithium recovery using titanium-based adsorbents.

HollySys' Solution

Despite tight schedules, high-altitude working conditions, limited transportation access, and multi-ethnic workforce coordination, the HollySys team delivered a New Energy Mining Manufacturing Execution Platform based on its XMagital® Intelligent System, and completed the rapid deployment of core modules covering production management, laboratory information management, equipment maintenance, and energy management. The project showcases several key technological advantages and innovative features of the HollySys solution.

• Closed-Loop Digital Management

The lithium extraction process spans 12 major production units and more than 2,000 monitoring I/Os, making manual management inefficient. The platform enables closed-loop digital management across production execution, equipment, energy consumption, and laboratory operations, improving lithium recovery rates by optimizing process control, and helping maintain cost competitiveness during capacity expansion.

• Centralized Remote Monitoring & Predictive Maintenance

Due to its high altitude, the site experiences temperature fluctuations of up to 70°C annually, with oxygen levels roughly half those of lowland regions. Manual inspections previously posed safety risks, and equipment failure rates were over 10% higher than in low-altitude areas. The platform enables centralized remote monitoring and predictive maintenance, promoting unmanned operations, reducing safety risks, and ensuring stable production for up to 330 days per year.

• Intelligent Scheduling

The platform establishes a digital energy profile and uses intelligent scheduling to increase the utilization of renewable power while reducing overall energy consumption per unit of product. It also achieves full digitalization of newly built mining operations.

• Full-Process Coordination

Lithium extraction involves 136 critical control parameters, including adsorbent consumption and membrane replacement. By building a digital production backbone linking brine extraction, lithium concentration, mother liquor recovery, and final crystallization, the platform enables full-process traceability, faster abnormality response, and improved overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).

• Seamless Enterprise Integration

As a key component of Zijin Mining's strategy to build a world-class, green, high-tech mining group, the platform connects with the company's global supply chain systems. Standardized data interfaces enable seamless integration with enterprise platforms such as Systems, Applications, and Products in Data Processing (SAP), Supplier Relationship Management System (SRM), and Cyber-Physical System (CPS), improving raw material turnover efficiency, reducing logistics costs, and supporting the development of integrated new energy value chains from lithium salts to cathode materials.

• Environmental Monitoring

Given the fragile plateau ecosystem, the platform integrates environmental monitoring data to establish a digital ecological balance model covering brine extraction, reinjection volumes, and water quality indicators, enabling dynamic balancing between production intensity and ecological carrying capacity.

With its advanced solution, HollySys helped establish a replicable model for building smart lithium facilities under extreme environmental conditions. It also supports the industry's transition from experience-driven operations to data-driven management, providing a valuable reference for the sustainable development of global lithium resources and the broader energy transition.