Indonesian government has increasingly put greater emphasis on the industrialization of raw resources mined within the country. Nickel is one of the most important material required for the production of EV battery and Indonesia currently holds 15 percent of the global reserve amounting to 21 million tonnes. Since 1 January 2020, an export prohibition of nickel ore has been put in place with the intention to build the domestic infrastructure to generate more added value products out of these raw materials.
Hong Kong CBL Limited (HKCBL) which is a subsidiary of the world’s largest EV battery maker China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Limited (CATL) has recently completed a number of transactions totalling $ 416.5 millions to acquire a stake in PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) subsidiary PT Sumberdaya Arindo (SDA) which operates a nickel mine in Halmahera Timur Regency, North Maluku Province. A collaboration between Antam and HKCBL is formalized through the signing of Divestment of the Electric Vehicle (EV) Battery Project on 28 December 2023. It is stated that the collaboration will be the first in the world which will cover stages from nickel mining to the manufacturing of battery cells in giga factory and recycling.
High-pressure acid leaching (HPAL)
Antam and HKCBL have also agreed on the plan to establish a company which will be responsible for hydrometallurgical project (HPAL JVCO). High-pressure acid leaching (HPAL) is an important leaching process to assist in the recovery of nickel from lacerite ores. The joint venture between Antam and HKCBL was put in place on 22 December 2023. Within this transaction, Antam sold 49% stake of SDA to HKCBL, also a 10% stake of another Antam’s subsidiary PT Feni Haltim (FHT) was released to HKCBL.