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Harita Nickel has big plans for EV boom
Far from the hustle-bustle of Jakarta and out of the spotlight, the company is currently laying the foundation to become one of the world's largest players in electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
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The nickel sulfate plant operated by PT Halmahera Persada Lygend on Obi island, South Halmahera, North Maluku. (The Jakarta Post/Harita Nickel)
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ew people outside of the mineral industry know about Harita Nickel, and it does not help that the company's mining operations and smelter facilities are located on a remote island in the northern part of Maluku, more than 2,300 kilometers from Jakarta.
Far from the hustle-bustle of Jakarta and out of the spotlight, the company is currently laying the foundation to become one of the world's largest players in electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
From the sprawling mining and smelter facilities run by Harita Nickel's subsidiary PT Halmahera Persada Lygend on the eastern coast of Obi island, the company is now operating the first nickel sulfate production operation in Indonesia, which is also the largest in the world.
With the facility, Harita Nickel is expected to annually produce 240,000 tonnes of nickel sulfate, the primary material used in the production of cathode precursors for EV batteries.
The opening of the nickel sulfate production follows the company's success in starting operations in June 2021 of another facility, to process Mixed Hydroxide Precipitate (MHP), a raw material used in EV batteries.
MHP contains both high-purity nickel and a small quantity of cobalt. Indonesia now has three plants capable of producing 164,000 tonnes of MHP annually, and 26 more plants are now being proposed.
Harita Nickel's success was largely due to its collaboration with Chinese nickel ore trader Lygend Resources & Technology Co, which has managed to carry out the difficult process of high-pressure acid leaching (HPAL) to convert Obi island's low-grade laterite ores into MHP.
