CHANGSHA, July 8 (Xinhua) -- China, among the world's largest holders of lithium reserves, has discovered a massive deposit of 490 million tonnes of lithium ore in central Hunan Province, the provincial department of natural resources said Tuesday.

The deposit, found in the Jijiaoshan mining area in Linwu County, has been classified as an altered granite-type lithium deposit, containing about 1.31 million tonnes of lithium oxide, according to the department.

It also contains other minerals such as rubidium, tungsten, and tin, added the department.

Due to complex geological conditions, the discovery was made possible through advances in exploration technologies and years of exploration work, according to the Mineral Resources Survey Institute of Hunan Province, which led the project.

Xu Yiming, a professor with the institute, said that the newly discovered lithium reserve would provide resources for the city of Chenzhou, which administers Linwu, to further develop its new-energy industry.

Lithium is a critical element with a wide range of applications, including in electric vehicles, energy storage systems, and mobile communications.

The China Geological Survey under the Ministry of Natural Resources said in January the country's lithium reserves had increased to 16.5 percent of the global total, propelling it to the second place in the world rankings. ■