The facility will have an annual production capacity of 90,000 tonnes of mixed hydroxide precipitate. — The Jakarta Post
Jakarta: PT Merdeka Battery Materials Tbk (MBM), the nickel processing unit of miner PT Merdeka Copper Gold Tbk, has signed an agreement to build a high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) plant with an investment value of around US$1.8bil, according to a statement.
The facility, to be developed at Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park in Central Sulawesi and operated by PT Sulawesi Nickel Cobalt (SLNC), will have an annual production capacity of 90,000 tonnes of mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP).
MHP is a key input for processing into nickel and cobalt, crucial elements for electric-vehicle batteries.
Merdeka Battery began constructing the HPAL plant in January toward an operation start date in 18 months.
The nickel producer’s affiliate PT Merdeka Energi Baru owns 50.1% of Sulawesi Nickel Cobalt.
“SLNC’s HPAL plant is MBM’s strategic initiative to maximise the value of our abundant nickel resources and is expected to result in a more than twofold increase in the company’s annual MHP production capacity,” Merdeka Battery Materials president director Teddy Oetomo said in the statement issued on Monday.
“Sulawesi Nickel Cobalt’s partnership shows our commitment to increasing our capacity to provide high-quality battery raw materials and support the government’s downstream policy.”
The new plant will get its laterite nickel ore from Merdeka Battery’s subsidiary PT Sulawesi Cahaya Mineral, operator of one of the world’s largest nickel mines containing approximately 13.8 million tonnes of nickel and one million tonnes of cobalt.
The SLNC plant will be adjacent to another HPAL facility operated by PT Huayue Nickel Cobalt, a Chinese joint venture led by Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co Ltd.
A Huayou subsidiary is to provide management services for building the SLNC plant, while Merdeka Battery is responsible for obtaining permits and necessary approval from the Indonesian government.
SLNC has obtained funding and signed loan agreements with various banks, including publicly listed Bank Permata as well as state-owned lenders Bank Mandiri, Bank Negara Indonesia and Bank Rakyat Indonesia.
Merdeka Battery previously partnered with China’s GEM Co Ltd to develop two other HPAL plants at Morowali’s industrial park with a total annual production capacity of 55,000 tonnes of MHP.
The first plant, operated by PT ESG New Energy Material, has an annual production capacity of 30,000 tonnes of MHP, while the second plant operated by PT Meiming New Energy Material has an annual production capacity of 25,000 tonnes of MHP.
Both HPAL plants are expected to start production in the first half of this year. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
