(Yicai Global) Dec. 10 -- Shares of Chinese fertilizer manufacturer Sichuan Development Lomon Group surged after the firm revealed its third battery material project within the past month amid the rallying electric vehicle sector.

SD Lomon's stock price [SHE: 002312] rose as much as 4.7 percent to CNY14.52 (USD2.30) intraday. The shares have almost tripled in value this year.

The company will construct the factory in Panzhihua to produce 200,000 tons of lithium iron phosphate per year to make use of its ample phosphate resources and to meet battery manufacturers' demand, the Chengdu-based firm said in a statement yesterday.

This is the third lithium battery material investment project SD Lomon has released within the past month. The others include a factory in southwestern China's Deyang which involves a capacity of 200,000 tons of lithium iron phosphate and another one in central China's Hubei province with an output of 100,000 tons of the same material.

SD Lomon will need at least CNY3.2 billion (USD502.5 million) to realize the latest project based on the area that the plant requires. Besides the cathode material, the facility will also produce sulfuric acid as a by-product, per the framework agreement the firm penned on Dec. 9.

The project will be completed in phases. After the first phase, which will be ready by 2023, SD Lomon's output will be enriched by 100,000 tons of lithium iron phosphate. The second phase should add a similar volume by 2025.

The booming new energy vehicle sector has prompted Chinese battery suppliers to increase their outputs. Ternary precursor manufacturer CNGR Advanced Material released two plans this week to boost its annual capacity by 500,000 tons of lithium iron phosphate.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi