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Zhang Tong

China has launched a 500-tonne production line to extract rubidium and caesium from lithium waste.
A demonstration line in Jiangxi province – the world’s first with an annual capacity of 500 tonnes for continuous tower extraction and separation of low-grade rubidium and caesium – has achieved stable production, according to the Institute of Process Engineering under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
Rubidium and caesium are critical to aerospace, quantum computing, biomedicine, new energy and other frontier fields.
But they do not exist in large amounts as independent minerals in the Earth’s crust. Instead, they occur as associated elements in lithium ores and salt-lake brines, at very low grades that make extraction extremely difficult.
By recovering them from waste left after lithium extraction from ore, China has extended its new energy industry production chain and strengthened the secure supply of rubidium, a strategic rare and precious metal.
China’s rubidium resources are not scarce. A 2024 paper estimated domestic reserves at about 1.16 million tonnes of rubidium oxide and 140,000 tonnes of caesium oxide. However, known rubidium resources are mainly associated with speciality lithium ores and salt-lake brines, with low grades and complex forms that make extraction and recycling very difficult.
For example, lithium-bearing lepidolite in Jiangxi contains nearly 40 per cent of China’s rubidium reserves, but the traditional high-temperature sulphate roasting process can reach 800 to 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 degrees Fahrenheit), locking much of the rubidium and caesium in aluminosilicate waste that is eventually discarded with lithium slag.
Pollucite is the main industrial source of caesium. China has no commercially viable pollucite mines, so it mainly imports from Canada, Australia and Zimbabwe. Like rubidium, China’s caesium is mostly found alongside lepidolite and salt-lake brines, which makes it hard to extract.
The breakthrough relies on a high-efficiency tower extraction system for rubidium and caesium developed by the institute with independent intellectual property rights. It uses differential counter-current extraction and has advantages such as a small footprint, low extractant use and strong containment.
According to the CAS website, a single extraction tower can be up to 15 times as efficient as a traditional extraction tank. It reduces extractant use by 40 per cent and equipment footprint by more than 50 per cent.
The team designed an industrial unit with 17 extraction towers together with Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium and other partners. It started up successfully on the first try and has run continuously and steadily since then, the institute said last Thursday.
It recovers more than 98 per cent of the caesium and more than 95 per cent of the rubidium. Both products, caesium carbonate and rubidium carbonate, are more than 99.9 per cent pure and are already being sold in commercial batches.
The system produces 500 tonnes a year of rubidium and caesium carbonates in all. The ratio of rubidium to caesium in the output is not yet clear.
Still, the demonstration line proves that low-grade associated rubidium and caesium resources can be separated industrially in an efficient and green way, providing a technical model for larger-scale commercialisation.




According to the CAS report, the technology is important for ensuring the development and use of China’s speciality lithium ores and the secure supply of rubidium and caesium resources.
China already plays a dominant role in the global rubidium resource landscape. A March article in China Mining News said the country had the world’s richest rubidium resources and the most centralised production capacity.
As of December 2025, China had built five core rubidium production lines – boasting world-leading technology and a total annual capacity of about 3,000 tonnes in rubidium salt equivalent.
Meanwhile, China’s Sinomine Resource Group controls the world’s largest pollucite (caesium ore) mine – creating a closed loop of resources, technology and production capacity that cements the country’s dominant position in the industry.
Looking ahead, breakthroughs in perovskite solar cells, solid-state batteries, quantum computing and other key technologies could broaden applications for rubidium salts, giving rubidium the potential to become the next rare earth.


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500-tonne production line up and running for rubidium and caesium, critical to advanced technology including aerospace and quantum computing


500-tonne production line up and running for rubidium and caesium, critical to advanced technology including aerospace and quantum computing.


Chinese plant extracts critical rare metals from lithium waste in world first

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}500-tonne production line up and running for rubidium and caesium, critical to advanced technology including aerospace and quantum computing

500-tonne production line up and running for rubidium and caesium, critical to advanced technology including aerospace and quantum computing