Indonesia has approved environmental impact studies for at least five factories to produce battery-grade nickel chemicals in Morowali, according to Pacific Rim Cobalt Corp (PRC), a Canada-based nickel-cobalt development company.
The country holds 25pc of the world’s nickel reserves and plans to invest $20bn by 2024 to create the world’s leading electric vehicle supply chain by using these resources, PRC reported. According to Ranjeet Sundher, chief executive officer of PRC’s Indonesia operations are well-positioned to benefit from Indonesia’s strategy to become a global leader in the EV supply chain.
In late 2019, Indonesia, one of the largest nickel exporters in the world, banned exports of the resource stating that they were needed to support its current plan.
This development will also enable Chinese stainless steel giant Tsingshan group to continue construction of one of their two high-pressure acid leaching plant in partnership with Zhejiang Huayou group representing a combined investment of $2.3bn.